Virginia Dare Born at Roanoke Colony, 1587

Virginia Dare was the first child of English descent born in the New World. She was the daughter of Eleanor and Ananias Dare, and the granddaughter of John White, the governor of the colony at Roanoke, Virginia. Little Virginia was christened the Sunday following her birth, and named after the new land.

Near the end of 1587, Virginia’s grandfather went back to England for more supplies. He didn’t want to go — he feared what would happen to his “stuffe and goods” at Roanoke while he was gone. But the other colonists agreed to watch over his possessions and he reluctantly agreed. Before he left, he worked out a signal with them: if, for any reason, they decided to leave Roanoke, the community would carve their destination on a post of the fort. If the move had been forced, they were to also carve a Maltese cross there.

White had a rough trip home, delayed by winds (and the lack of them) and plagued with injury and death. When he finally got back to England, there was more bad news. The Spanish Armada was threatening to invade England, and Elizabeth needed every ship she could find. She could spare none to return to the New World, at least for the time being.

In 1588, White found two pinnaces, the Brave and the Roe, which were small enough to be of no use to the English war effort. They were barely large enough to cross the Atlantic, either, but White decided to give it a try. Almost immediately they were assaulted by French pirates who stole all their supplies and arms, and shot White “in the side of the buttoke”, to his immense embarrassment. White returned to England, and decided that he had been born under “an unlucky star.”

It was March of 1590 before White was able to leave again for Virginia, and this time he made it. He landed on August 19, 1590 — the third birthday of his grandchild, Virginia. But Virginia wasn’t there. Neither were any of the other inhabitants of the colony. White did find a couple of messages: the word “Croatoan” was carved into a post of the fort, and “Cro” on a nearby tree. Croatoan was the name of a nearby island, and was also the name of a local Indian tribe. There was no Maltese cross, so presumably the colonists hadn’t been evicted by force. (Although one does have to wonder what kind of an emergency routing leaves you time to carve just exactly the message you had planned.)

White could find no trace of any of the inhabitants, although he did find his possessions, which the colonists had hidden away. The local Indians had, unfortunately, found the hiding place, however, and White’s things were “spoyled and broken, and [his] books torne from the covers , the frames of my pictures and mappes rotten and spoyled with rayne, and [his] armour almost eaten through with rust.” As the weather grew worse, White had to abandon his search and return to England, placing the fate of his family and friends in “the merciful help of the Almighty, whom I most humbly beseech to helpe and comfort them.”

No trace was ever found of the Roanoke colonists — until 1937. Shortly following the 350-year celebration of Virginia Dare’s birth, a significant event to North Carolinians, a mysterious stone was found in a swamp by L. E. Hammond. It was a 20-pound stone with carvings on both sides. Hammond couldn’t decipher them, so he brought it to Emory University, where it was translated as “Ananias Dare and Virginia went to hence unto heaven 1591.” A longer message was on the other side.

As finally translated, the other side described the family’s acceptance by Indians, and later assault by a less friendly tribe. Only seven of the English had survived.

Hammond was paid $1500 for the stone, and the University let it be known that they would pay for additional stones. Not surprisingly, more stones were discovered over the next two years — 47 of them, in fact. Most of them had been signed by Eleanor Dare, and detailed the further adventures of the survivors. One stone announced the death of Eleanor in 1599.

The stones were widely credited as authentic at the time of their discovery, although they were later debunked. As it turned out, the four men who had discovered the stones all knew each other, and all had criminal records. Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia now owns the “Dare Stones”, although they are not on display, nor are they publicized.

Over the years, Virginia Dare’s name has been used to advertise everything from vanilla to tobacco and alcohol. The first commercial wine produced after the repeal of prohibition was called Virginia Dare. Her name has also been evoked by the VDARE Project, an anti-immigration society (and, according to some, hate group.) It seems a little ironic, considering that Virginia herself was the daughter of some of our first immigrants.

Sources: Chase’s Calendar of Events, 2011 Edition: The Ultimate Go-To Guide for Special Days, Weeks, and Months, Editors of Chase’s Calendar of Events; www.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_18; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Dare; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_White_(colonist_and_artist); http://www.angelfire.com/tn/traderz/virginia.html; http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/21/entry; http://wikimapia.org/8653167/Dare-Stones-Hoax-September-1937; http://www2.statesville.com/news/2010/sep/20/dare-stones-hoax-or-history-ar-408801/; http://www.brownsguides.com/blog/weird-georgia-dare-stones-part-one-discovery/; http://www.brownsguides.com/blog/weird-georgia-dare-stones-part-2-the-hoax/.


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