Historical Background
Before Jamestown and Plymouth, a group of about 120 men, women and children established one of the first English settlements in the New World on Roanoke Island in 1587. Shortly after arriving in this New World, colonist Eleanor Dare, daughter of Governor John White, gave birth to Virginia Dare. The Governor's granddaughter was the first English child born in North America.
However, life on the island was difficult. Low on supplies and facing retaliation from the Native Americans they had displaced, the colonists sent Governor John White back to England in the summer of 1587 for supplies. Because of the impending war with Spain, Governor White was unable to return to Roanoke Island until 1590. When he arrived, the colony had vanished, leaving one tantalizing clue as to their whereabouts: the word "CROATOAN" carved on a post. The fate of those first colonists remains a mystery to this day and is one of America's most intriguing unsolved mysteries!
Read more about this topic: Lost Colony (play)
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or background:
“In public buildings set aside for the care and maintenance of the goods of the middle ages, a staff of civil service art attendants praise all the dead, irrelevant scribblings and scrawlings that, at best, have only historical interest for idiots and layabouts.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)