Source: NC Encyclopedia at ncpedia.org
What happened to the English colonists of the ill-fated Lost Colony on Roanoke Island? Theories spring up like crocus in a lawn, only to vanish in the heat of closer examination. The Dare Stones, once considered to be entirely faked, have recently been brought to light again through the controversial TV series America Unearthed episode "Mystery of Roanoke." What is interesting to me about the Dare Stones is the lengths to which people will go to defend their pet theory, rather than investigate to uncover the truth. Just to go on record from the beginning, I'm not at all persuaded that most of the Dare Stones are real. In fact, I think most of them are fakes. But I find the original and a few of the later Dare Stones to be compelling and worthy of further examination. My reason for this rests partly on the trajectory of the Occaneechi Path. The Dare Stones imply that Eleanor Dare (daughter of Governor John White) and a few surviving colonists went southwest, away from the coast of North Carolina and deep into South Carolina and even western Georgia. On the surface of it, this theory sounds preposterous. Why would the remnants of the colony and possibly also a few surviving Croatoan Indians go in that direction? How would they even get to Georgia through hundreds of miles of dense forest and numerous river crossings? The Occaneechi, or Great Trading, Path provides an answer. It began on the James River in Virginia and headed southwest to the Roanoke River near the Virginia - North Carolina border. There, on an island in the river, the Occaneechee Indians held their place as great traders along the upper portion of the Path. (The Roanoke River empties into Albemarle Sound farther east, in coastal NC, not far from where Roanoke Island and Croatoan Island lie at the mouth of the sound.) After leaving the coastal plain, the Path pushed westerly through forests and across more rivers to what is now Asheboro, NC, then headed more southerly toward Charlotte, NC. From there, it split into an eastern branch that led to Columbia, South Carolina, and a western branch called the Lower Cherokee Trading Path, which ended near Little Echota, in Georgia. John Lederer, one of the first explorers of the Carolina backcountry, clearly notes the Path on his map from the 1670s, so we know it was in use before his time, and probably for centuries prior. The Native peoples were sophisticated traders and travelers, as their own stories and beliefs attest, and numerous archaeological finds have demonstrated. Thus, there is some logic in the theory that Algonquin Indians from Croatoan, having befriended the English camped on Roanoke, might have led them to safety among their trading contacts in the west, the powerful Itsate Creek people living in northeastern Georgia [not Cherokee before 1700s]. This is precisely where some of the Dare Stones say Eleanor Dare went. Coincidence? Or a clever hoax? Let me know what you think. In my next post for "Dare to Follow," I'll explore some theories on what caused the English to vanish from Roanoke Island. The real medieval warhorse was maneuverable and relatively small, but packed a strong punch. Read The Warhorse, 1250 - 1600 by Ann Hyland and see the Destrier site.
Victor, the warhorse in my screenplay, is part Friesian and part Neopolitan (not unlike the modern-day Lippizan). Take a look at the most developed form of classical cavalry movements as performed by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the partnership between horse and man was just being discovered. Ironically, even as gunpowder, cannon, and small arms were changing warfare forever, horse training was evolving into an art form that could produce the most sophisticated warhorses ever seen. The character of Margit illustrates both this new, humane relationship with horses and the emergence of women as skilled horse handlers in early modern Europe. Yet, despite a century of female leadership in riding and training, it was not until 2008 that the Spanish Riding School broke with tradition and accepted women into it's performance program. |
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