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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Myspace Graphics, Thanksgiving Graphics at WishAFriend.com


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Roanoke Played a Very Important Part in the Birth of Our Nation

The new world was discovered by a Spanish Navigator, North America was colonized by the Vikings, Spain, Portugal and France, its rich Outer Banks fished by the Basque and other nations, but eventually it became a predominately English speaking continent. And 13 small colonies became the United States.

How did this come about?
Who were the major players?

Almost four hundred years ago a group of families from England built the first permanent settlement on the shores of the New World. This town Jamestown, Virginia, named after James I, the King of England. Jamestown was not the first English colony in Virginia, but it had been the first one to be successful. Twenty years earlier, a colony had been started about one hundred miles south of Jamestown, on Roanoke Island that proved to be unsuccessful.

On March 25, 1584, Walter Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a patent to “discover, search, find out, and view” any lands “not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people.” The patent was approved to “go or travel thither to inhabited or remained, there to build and fortified” for a period of six years.

Within a month Walter Raleigh had dispatched a fleet of two ships commanded by Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They sailed from London on April 27th through the West Indies and sighted land off our coast on the 4th of July 1584. Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe entered Pamlico Sound at Ocracoke Inlet and a few days later Barlowe and eight of his men reached Roanoke Island. From early July until mid September a small band of men explored the region as best they could, traded with the Indians, and observed such things as the plants, the soil, the animals, and recorded everything that they could possibly learn about Indians and their way of life.

http://www.blogaboutall.com/2009/11/jamestown-virginia/



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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Presentation Nov. 10th, Tues. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke



Mary Livermore Library – News and Events

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

The Friends of the Library invite you to join us Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 p.m. for Richard Folsom, author of Indian Wood, A Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. Mr. Folsom will share his research into the oldest mystery in the country. Reception will follow.

Product Description

In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh sent 116 men, women and children to Roanoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They were to plant the first English colony in the New World. By 1590, they had disappeared. The colony was lost, and it remains America's oldest unsolved mystery.

Carl Bowden, a university professor, has discovered a document that may prove an intriguing new theory of what may have happened to the colonists. He made one phone call to a trusted colleague. Three hours later he was found murdered under the rotunda of the university library. Someone does not want the mystery of the Lost Colony to be solved and is willing to kill to protect the secret.



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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

UK mayor to dig for Lost Colony roots

THE search for links between Bideford and the earliest American settlers will take the town's Mayor, Cllr Andy Powell, to North Carolina next month.

Mr Powell is planning to join high profile archaeologist Professor Mark Horton, one of the team from the television series Coast, and a small group of Americans on a series of exploratory digs on the outer banks region of North Carolina.

Mr Powell represents the town council on the Bideford 500 group, which also includes representatives of the chamber of commerce and other interested parties. I

ts aim is to draw on Bideford's maritime heritage as a focus for tourism and regeneration in the town.

Aim of the North Carolina project is to establish whether Bidefordians were among the founding fathers of America.

It is believed some could have been among the Lost Colonists who landed on Roanoke Island in the 1580s- more than 30 years before the Pilgrim Fathers set sail from Plymouth.

The 117 men, women and children disappeared, but it is hoped to establish that they did not perish, but moved on to live with the local native American tribes to become the first permanent settlers of the continent.

In collaboration with an American research group, next month's test digs will examine areas where artefacts have been discovered, including what appear to be Elizabethan bricks - known to have been used as ballast in the ships of colonists - pieces of pottery and even parts of what could be an Elizabethan ship.

"We will be looking at prospective sites, including possible settlements, a midden or rubbish tip and burial sites," said Mr Powell. "This will be a small, low-key operation. It is a fact-finding mission. But, depending on the results, it could lead to a full-scale dig next spring."

Through genealogy and modern DNA testing it is also hoped to establish links between people from Bideford and families in America that can be traced back to this era.

After publication of a list of the Lost Colonists' names earlier this year, Barnstaple businessman Philip Milton became the first local person to have his DNA tested.

Although several matches were found with Americans, genealogical research has not yet been able to take these as far back in time as the Lost Colony.

Five other families whose names might fit with the list had now also come forward, said Mr Powell. DNA test kits had been sent for from a laboratory in Texas, which would also test them.

Article here

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