Everything is Relative
By Jennifer Sheppard
Croatoan:
Birthplace of America
A compelling work by Scott Dawson who offers a definite plausible explanation of what happened to the 1587 colony of 117 men, women and children, that became known as The Lost Colony. Keep in mind the first time the colony was referred to as lost was when playwright, Paul Green, wrote the historical drama in 1937. Ask any native of the area and they will tell you they are descendants of the group known as the Lost Colony; therefore it was never lost.
It is difficult to classify this work as either fiction or non-fiction because it is a combination of both. A must read for anyone interested in the fate of the English men and women who landed on the shores of what is known today as the Outer Banks. Yes, 23 years before the ships landed in Jamestown, Virginia and 36 years before the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, a group of people landed, on what are now, the shores of North Carolina, to establish a settlement.
This young author has woven a story around documented evidence of the actual events involving the 1584 -1587 voyages. He did a marvelous job of filling in the blanks, as he imagined it might have happened. And he makes a convincing point that the fate of the colony was perpetrated by sabotage and its abandonment by the sponsors rather than lost, as it has become known.
I met this author at a meeting of researchers, with whom I used to work. I am not easily impressed but I am impressed by Scott Dawson and his knowledge of the Outer Banks and commitment to his birth place, Croatoan (modern day Buxton which is located on Hatteras Island where he was born) and his willingness to shed new light on what has been considered the greatest unsolved mystery in North America.
This book includes pictures of various artifacts, uncovered during archeological digs in 2006. The gunlock (dated “to the 16th century, probably 1583 based on an identical one found in England”) discovered by Dr. David Phelps of East Carolina University, as well as the “gold signet ring that belonged to Master Kendall who was part of the 1585 voyage and who lived with 20 other English colonists in Croatoan for over a month in 1586”. Research groups are using genealogical, archaeological evidence, oral history and DNA to prove that there are descendants of “The Lost Colony” living in Eastern North Carolina today.
Other pictures include pipe fragments, a map of the Outer Banks with Native American villages and modern names, created by Scott Dawson, pieces of pottery “found during the Croatoan dig in 2006”, and pictures of the “1759 Croatoan land deed giving land to the Hatteras Indians and last but not least, a clipping from the Dare County Times showing a “photo of Lindy Miller after his discovery of a sword and other items in the same spot where the Croatoan village digs would occur 60 years later” as well as a list of Croatoan words and their modern day meanings.
I leave you with the following quote from Scott’s book.
“This colony was abandoned, not lost. The colonists wrote down where they were going and no one ever looked there! Everyone knew where Croatoan was back then just as we know now. That has never been a mystery”…….
Ordering information: Softcover, 5 ½ X 8 ½, 173 pgs, $14.95 plus $4.95 shipping. Happy Hunting! http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/product.aspx?ISBN=0-7414-5469-6 © History Chasers
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