When I think of a lost people, I usually picture a tribe in Africa or some remote corner of the world, not somewhere in America. But it did happen here, a very long time ago…long before anyone could easily track someone down. On July 22, 1587, a new colony arrived in Roanoke, North Carolina, then part of colonial Virginia. Less than a month later, on August 18, Virginia Dare, the first English baby born in the Americas, came into the world. The group, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by John White…Virginia’s grandfather—found no sign of the English garrison that had gone ahead, except for one skeleton. Understandably, they didn’t want to stay, but the fleet commander, Simon Fernandez, refused to let them return to the ship, and the vessels sailed away with the promise of bringing back new supplies.
John White had to leave and returned to England on August 27, 1587, promising to come back within three months. But the Spanish Armada attack in 1588 delayed his return to Roanoke. For the next three years, he tried desperately to get back to the small colony. When he finally arrived, he rushed ashore only to find it completely deserted. Among the missing was his granddaughter, Virginia Dare, who would have turned three on August 15. 
His return had been held up by the Anglo-Spanish war and Spanish ships that stole the supplies meant for the colonists. It’s believed the colony vanished during the war, but exactly where they went or who took them remains a mystery.
There’s been plenty of speculation about the fate of the Roanoke Lost Colony, but the true outcome for the settlers remains a mystery, and it’s still called the “Lost Colony” to this day. Over the years, many attempts have been made to uncover its fate, including the Lost Colony DNA Project launched in 2005. Some recent research suggests the colonists may have moved to where the Chowan River meets the Albemarle Sound in what’s now Bertie County, North Carolina. Still, discoveries on Hatteras Island…like a sword hilt, pieces of English bowls, and part of a slate writing tablet with a letter on it…hint they might have ended up there, about 50 miles southeast of Roanoke Island. Artifacts were also found at a 
mainland site 50 miles northwest. Some believe Native Americans may have taken in or absorbed the settlers into their tribe, as some members today have unusually gray eyes. We may never know the truth, but it’s nicer to imagine they were welcomed than to think they met a violent end.
