*[Es ist sehr kalt heute.]
I have been reading an interesting book which I think the historically minded readers here would like. Gary Grassl has been studying the early settlement of Virginia for some time, especially the role of Germans or near Germans in its history. Even before 1607, there were Germans here, and at Jamestown there were more Germans. Unfortunately, they left no descendants and very little history.
The story of the English in America begins before Jamestown. In 1585 a settlement was made on Roanoke Island. Technically, today this island is in North Carolina but at that time all of North America was called, by the English, Virginia. They built forts and houses and the exact locations of these are debatable. Around 1950, the US Park Service made a reconstruction of what they thought was the first fort. Upon reflection, a number of noted archeological historians have challenged the location and the design of this reconstruction. Grassl gives us arguments that the reconstruction was incorrect.
The settlement made in 1585 was sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh. It has come to be known as the First Colony.
Roanoke Island is about three miles by twelve miles in extent. It lies inside the Outer Banks and is protected from the ocean by them. (It is not far from Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers made their first flight.) A fort was built on Roanoke Island for protection from two sources of danger. One was the Native Americans and the other was the Spanish.
The fort and the homes were abandoned in 1586. A much smaller group of English people settled here shortly thereafter. This group installed a palisade around the original homes which were still standing. When more English people came, there was no trace of this group which became known as the Lost Colony. The larger group which followed them was known as the Second Colony.
Mr. Grassl’s book, “ The First English Settlement in America ”, can be obtained from several sources, but the most economical is the web site, www.firstenglishsettlementbook.com . The price of this 250 page book of 8 ½ by 11 inch pages is very modest.
*[It is very cold today.]
(03 Jan 07)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.