| Show ROANOKE ISLAND IS LAN D iq A T X A t modern transportation on roanoke island prepared hy rational society Wash bigton D C service Berv lct engineers have thrust MODERN M virginia dare troll trail down uie the islands off the north carolina coast and built the wright memorial bridge across currituck Currl Curri tuck sound bringing the islands into touch with the modern world yet the visitor still finds in roanoke island the speech and customs common in the days of sir walter raleigh whose followers established there the first english settlement in america from the skipper of the small mall mail boat that plies between the islands one may supplement his limited knowledge of this region supplied by obsolete descriptions and by copies of the original letters and maps left by sir walter raleight Ra leighs adventurers ile he learns that roanoke island perfectly exemplifies the adage that byways of isolation pocket the choicest realities of life here Is a genuine inbred dignity expressive of a mild mannered hospitable folk tho the islanders are proud of their physique speech manners and customs historic survivals of old english devon the ubiquitous automobile did not reach roanoke island until less than a decide decade ago for land tran transportation a there were up tip to that time 0 only ly two wheeled carts and sand ponies and d occasional oxcarts ox carts men een the I 1 little t le sand ponies tradition went back bach to 0 castaway vessels to the portuguese and to sir walter waller raleight Ra leighs voyagers on raleight Ra leighs attempts at colonization hinged momentous results in the new world the lost colonies though they began and ended sir walters ventures upon the north caro carolina lina sea islands were the first english speaking settlements in america discovered in 1584 in 1394 the adventurer obtained a patent from queen elizabeth whose favors his genius readily commanded and dispatched to the new world the first of his expeditions the little band under amadas rind and barlowe sailed through an inlet on july 4 1384 to discover roanoke island a spot so favored in climate and setting and so rich in fruits game and bird life that it seemed to them a veritable paradise back to england they sailed to describe it taking with them two friendly indian chiefs and also tobacco sassafras malze maize pumpkins squash grapes and other fruits their story created excitement and in the following year raleigh sent out sir richard grenville with a second colony numbering souls determined to make a permanent home on roanoke island and establish plantations they landed on august 17 1585 and built a log to fortification to which they gave the name the new fort in virginia also spoken of as fort raleigh however they could not live at peace with the indians and the entire colony sailed back with sir francis drake in 1580 just two weeks beeks before the arrival of reinforcements finding the fort deserted the new group also returned to england but left 15 men on the island A third expedition sent out by raleigh in 1587 found the fort de molls bed and no trace of the 15 men except the bones bonea of one slain by the savages the gruesome discovery was a shock to the home bome seekers and they willingly followed the advice of their leader jolin john white walte to forestall future hostility by making friends of the indians the plan succeeded admirably 51 manteo anteo one of the friendly chiefs was even baptized and given amitie of nobility as lord of roanoke the first englich peerage in america Virg virginia lnla dares birth on august 18 1587 live five days after the baptism of the indian was born jolin john whites granddaughter virginia dare the first english natlie nathe of america she was baptized on tile the following sunday thus was elizabethan civilization anchored here by a baby a mother and the american family around little virginia dare remained more than a hundred men women and ch children illren they were nere loft left alone for three years then john white who ho had gone back to england after establishing the colony returned to find that they had disappeared the only promising clue white found was the sl sign n CRO blazed on a tree since these letters were part of a code agreed upon by the colonists three years before the rescue party loped hoped that their friends had gone to croatan home of the friendly Il lauteo atiteo who had promised sanctuary in emergency but the captain pleading bad weather and lads lack of supplies forced the party to sail away avny before the clue could be investigated what had been bee the colonists fate the blazed sign was all that was ever found of the lost colonies except hasty marks of departure burned chests rusty iron implements household effects and books even in that wilderness colonists of Shake day could not exist without books whatever the fate of the colonists either they or their early successors left their elizabethan english dialect manners customs and features in this american byway As the little mall mail boat bobs along toward roanoke island the travelers thoughts turn from the story of virginia dare and the first colonists to another historic drama of the banks in 1812 just across the channel from roanoke island on the ocean sand spits of nags head tile the pilot boat patriot carrying Theod theodosha codosia Th osla burr alston daughter of aaron burr and wife of governor alston of south carolina ended its last voyage after the tragic collapse of her fathers career and the loss of her little son the die only hope of tile the burr family mrs alston was in the depths of despair she set sail from rom georgetown S C to join her lonely father and disappeared forever evert 1 life on the island A bit of life on roanoke Is revealed by a recent visitor a woman doctor an old midwife and nurse the widow of a life service man was to care for her temporarily in her ancient cottage by the sound where she lived alone her name was ills bashi the ills BD an island designation for mistress and bachl she said a bibla name ater bathsheba Bath t the e wife of urlah uriah but they c call meas lil 1 1 surnames on the island do not denote the individual tor for the families in a hamlet are usually all members of one or two clans ill wipe the dustless off you your corD cornbread bread is waltin and your cake all dressed up tip in coconut mis ills bachl stirred about the spacious old brick fireplace with its crane and firedogs fire dogs clogs and brought from tile the coals an old four legged skillet in which she had baked a delicious cornbread lying on the hearth was a mammoth bushy tailed long haired cat one of the numerous beautiful descendants ants of an island maltese and a brown bushy tailed norwegian cat that had been the sole survivor lor of a wreck in a worn slab wood rocker in which the old woman had rocked her six children the doctor rested after dinner and listened to her tale of a remarkable life history what she learned entitles entities mis ills bashi to a place in the annals of medical history the old nurse belonged to the islands remnant fler blood her sterling character and her beautiful broad dialect were heritages of the old devonshire castaway she wits was comely and agile her visage one of strength and thought of only five fire weeks school ln she had never learned to read but had been tati taught lit to work indoors and out tind and to spin at sixteen out old she married and at twenty one out on t in a far life service station hamlet she undertook her first obstetrical case doctor I 1 knew of it but Al mehaley chaley read me a doctor book and the moon was comin to full so the baby would be thrifty one born in the dark of the moon Is not mis bachis nursing on her little plantation in pine woodsby woods joy the sound though widowed later she cared for a psychiatric mother raised her own brood and her mothers and her brothers children cared for cows pigs and gardens then for 45 years she ministered to all the sick of the region a local doctor coming only at rare intervals ifer her sand pony napoleon carried her in a two wheeled cart through woods and sand and water in gare or sunshine to her patients often afoot she rn swung ung with her viking stride down beaches or through the woods she was smart exact and knowing though she signed by mark and she was known khoun as a cou coutey coutt thy ly capable woman ner her dignity of hearing bearing and courtesy were exquisite thus she fell into the role that nature cast for her months later the doctor realized reali sed how the person personality allty of this island woman linked with a touch of science prevented morbid results from household conditions condi tlona she established her own art ot of and it worked |
