The Lost What?

It occurs to me that since I’m trying to expand the scope of this journal I should explain to the general readership what exactly The Lost Colony is about.

A Brief History Lesson

By the 1580s the Spanish had established a firm presence in the western hemisphere in what we now call Central and South America and in the Caribbean. “Presence” might be too light a term – they were in fact exploiting and looting the place.

The English under the monarchy of Elizabeth I wanted a piece of that action. Privateers were sent out to raid Spanish shipping. It was quite a lucrative business. It was thought that the raiding system could be expanded if an independent settlement could be established in the New World. This settlement would supply fresh food and other supplies as well as providing a safe haven for English pirates. Exploratory expeditions were sent out and in 1587 a consortium organized by Sir Walter Raleigh was sent across the ocean. Investors in the project were to receive large plantations.

The plan was to establish a colony in the tidewater area of the Chesapeake. In fact 30 years later the Jamestown colony would be so established.

There is no firm explanation as to why they ended up on Roanoke Island. The common explanation is that the pilot didn’t want to waste time. He wanted to get back to raiding. Also hurricane season was nigh and he needed to get his ships out of there.

Whatever the reason, he dumped the 117 men, women and children on Roanoke Island. It had been well charted in previous expeditions and was protected by the barrier islands we now call the northern outer banks.

A few weeks after they arrived the first English child was born in the New World. She was christened Virginia Dare. (Note: the entire New World at that point was named “Virginia” in honor of Elizabeth I – The Virgin Queen. Virginia Dare was named after the land, not the other way around as many people believe.)

That much is fact as recorded by John White who was governor of the colony. But shortly after Virginia’s birth (White was her grandfather) he left to return to England for more supplies and colonists.

It would be three years before he returned. It was the time of the Spanish Armada’s attempted invasion of England and no ships or men or supplies could be spared. Finally White got some supplies and set off – only to have his ship taken by pirates. Raleigh had long since lost interest in the project. White finally got another expedition together and made landfall on the Island.

The colony was gone, nothing but an overgrown fort. The word “Croatoan” was carved in a post. It was a prearranged signal to communicate the intention of relocating the colony to the Native American village of Croatoan (modern day Buxton on Cape Hatteras). But bad storms prevented the expedition from reaching Croatoan and they returned to England. No further attempt was made to locate the lost colony.

There are three theories about what happened to them. The first, of course, is that they did in fact relocate to Croatoan. Artifacts have been uncovered in that area that are of English manufacture dating from the 16^th century.

The second theory: the modern day Lumbee Indians claim that the colonists merged with them and went with them when the tribe moved inland.

The third theory: When the Jamestown colonists arrived 30 years later they were told by Chief Powhaten (Pocohontas’s father) that the lost colonists had been living among the natives in the Chesapeake Bay area but that he had “cruelly slaughtered them.”

A common sense fourth theory is that the lost colonists split up and all three of the other theories are true.

“The Lost Colony”

Among subsequent settlers on Roanoke Island the oral history of Raleigh’s failed expedition was passed down through the generations. It was always known that the old fort was had been located on the north end of the island and that it was the birthplace of Virginia Dare. In the 1920s a local teacher spearheaded the production of a silent film commemorating the colony. The film featured local people in all the roles.

As the 350^th anniversary of Virginia Dare’s birth approached the local citizenry decided to produce a pageant depicting the historical events that occurred on the island. Paul Green, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, was commissioned to write the script. An amphitheater was constructed on the north end of the island by the WPA. The four hour long pageant opened on July 4^th 1937. On August 18^th, Virginia Dare’s birthday, President Franklin Roosevelt attended.

The pageant, named “The Lost Colony,” was only supposed to run that one summer but was so popular that a second season was produced. It has been produced every summer since, with the exception of three years during World War II when the coastal blackout was in effect.

This summer marks the 74^th anniversary season of The Lost Colony.

The Script

Paul Green’s original 1937script was a long meandering hodgepodge. A lot of it still survives but a lot is long gone. Examples: In the original script young William Shakespeare shows up entreating Raleigh to let him go to the New World. Raleigh denies him because Will has a great future in England. The original script made reference to the Catholic/Anglican schism. The two soldiers taunt Old Tom as one of “Pope” Phillip’s minions (a reference to Catholic Spanish King Phillip). Paul Green tinkered with the script over the years and in the 1971 finally issued the authoritative script.

As the decades roll on there have been many opinions about the influences on Paul Green that produced this script. This year I have been hearing some absolutely inane observations and conclusions. To me it is very simple.

The author wrote this piece in the 1930s. His influences were the movies of the time. The leading characters were, in his mind, to be played by Tyrone Power or Errol Flynn with Maureen O’Hara or Joan Fontaine. Old Tom is Walter Brennen or Monty Wooley. Bette Davis as The Queen. Stylistically it is a melodramatic swashbuckler with a healthy dose of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The big battle sequence in act two is a direct steal from Buffalo Bill.

Thematically the script is a reflection of The Great Depression and Green’s own socialist politics. Once Governor White departs to England all facts disappear from the script. The play ends with the survivors, failed and abandoned by the ruling class, under the leadership of the honest working man, leaving the fort and marching into the wilderness to create a socialist paradise.