THE WATERSIDE THEATER.
At the water’s edge is the theater of the Roanoke Island Historical Association, in which Paul Green’s Lost Colony symphonic drama is given annually during the summer season through the cooperation of the State of North Carolina and the National Park Service.
Three clay pots restored from fragments found in the remains of Indian campfires at various levels in the fort ditch.
The National Historic Site
Fort Raleigh was transferred to the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior in 1940. On April 5, 1941, it was designated Fort Raleigh National Historic Site under provision of the act of Congress commonly referred to as the Historic Sites Act, approved August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666), to commemorate Sir Walter Raleigh’s colonies and the birthplace of Virginia Dare, first child of English parentage to be born in the New World. The area of the site in Federal ownership is 18.50 acres and embraces part of the settlement sites of 1585 and 1587 and the fort site. By a cooperative agreement between the Roanoke Island Historical Association and the United States, the play, the Lost Colony, continues to be given each season in the Waterside Theater at Fort Raleigh. This arrangement provides for the unhampered production of the play with all of its creative folk qualities. The income from the play is dedicated to the maintenance of the theater, the next season’s production, and the expansion and development of the historic Site.
How to Reach the Site
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is 3 miles north of Manteo, N. C. on State Route 345. It is 92 miles southeast of Norfolk, Va., and 67 miles southeast of Elizabeth City, N. C. From Norfolk, Va., take Virginia and North Carolina Routes 170 and 34 to junction of U. S. 158, then over U. S. 158 to Manteo. Manteo may be reached also from Elizabeth City, N. C., over U. S. 158.
Traffic from the south and west can reach the site by the route from Elizabeth City, or from Washington, N. C., over U. S. 264, or from Williamston, N. C., over U. S. 64.
Administration
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. Communications and inquiries should be addressed to the Superintendent, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Manteo, N. C.
Related Areas
Other historical areas in the East associated with early colonization of America, which are administered by the National Park Service, are Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Fla.; De Soto National Memorial, Fla.; Fort Matanzas National Monument, Fla.; San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico; Ackia Battleground National Monument, Miss.; Colonial National Historical Park (Jamestown, Yorktown, and Cape Henry Memorial), Va.; Fort Frederica National Monument, Ga.; and Fort Caroline National Memorial, Fla.
The audience at one of the performances of Paul Green’s play “The Lost Colony.”
About Your Visit
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is open the entire year. Information and literature may be obtained in the museum. Organizations and groups are given special service if arrangements are made in advance with the superintendent. The Lost Colony, pageant-drama, is produced in the Waterside Theater between June and September at night according to hours and dates fixed by the sponsoring Roanoke Island Historical Association.
Suggested Readings
Hakluyt, Richard. The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation. Vol. VIII. Glasgow, Scotland. 1904.
Hariot, Thomas. A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. (A reproduction of the edition printed at Frankfort, in 1590, by Theodore de Bry, edited by W. H. Rylands for the Holbein Society) Manchester, England. 1888.
Harrington, J. C. Archeological Explorations at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, in North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. XXVI, No. 2, April 1949.
Ive, Paul. The Practise of Fortification. London, 1589.
Oré, Luis Geronimo de. The Martyrs of Florida, 1513-1616. Translated by Maynard Geiger Franciscan Studios No. 18. New York. 1936.
Porter, Charles W. III. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, North Carolina, in North Carolina Historical Review. Vol. XX, No. 1. 1943.
Quinn, David B. Raleigh and the British Empire. New York. 1949.
.... The Roanoke Voyages 1584-1590. (Documents to illustrate the Voyages to North America under the Patent Granted to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584.) 2 vols. The Hakluyt Society. London, England. 1955.
Reding, Katherine. Letter of Gonzalo Mendez de Canzo to Philip II, in Georgia Historical Quarterly. Vol. VIII. 1924.
Rowse, A. L. Sir Richard Granville of the Revenge. Boston and New York. 1937.
Williams, Talcott. The Surroundings and Site of Raleigh’s Colony, in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1895. Washington, D. C. 1896.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1965 OF-775-458
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES
(Price lists of National Park Service publications may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.)
Antietam Bandelier Chalmette Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields Custer Battlefield Custis-Lee Mansion, the Robert E. Lee Memorial Fort Laramie Fort McHenry Fort Necessity Fort Pulaski Fort Raleigh Fort Sumter George Washington Birthplace Gettysburg Guilford Courthouse Hopewell Village Independence Jamestown, Virginia Kings Mountain The Lincoln Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died Manassas (Bull Run) Montezuma Castle Morristown, a Military Capital of the Revolution Ocmulgee Petersburg Battlefields Saratoga Scotts Bluff Shiloh Statue of Liberty Vanderbilt Mansion Vicksburg Yorktown
