Our October 2015 visit to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site continued with a quarter-mile round-trip walk along a mostly paved trail to the 1950 reconstruction of the fort.
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| The trail begins on a wide sidewalk |
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| An 1896 monument marks the approximate site of the fort |
The inscription on the 1896 marker reads:
ON THIS SITE, IN JULY – AUGUST, 1585 (O.S.), COLONISTS, SENT OUT FROM ENGLAND BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH, BUILT A FORT, CALLED BY THEM “THE NEW FORT IN VIRGINIA” THESE COLONISTS WERE THE FIRST SETTLERS OF THE ENGLISH RACE IN AMERICA. THEY RETURNED TO ENGLAND IN JULY, 1586, WITH SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. NEAR THIS PLACE WAS BORN, ON THE 18TH OF AUGUST, 1587, VIRGINIA DARE. THE FIRST CHILD OF ENGLISH PARENTS BORN IN AMERICA – DAUGHTER OF ANANIAS DARE AND ELEANOR WHITE, HIS WIFE, MEMBERS OF ANOTHER BAND OF COLONISTS SENT OUT BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH IN 1587. ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 1587, VIRGINIA DARE WAS BAPTIZED. MANTEO, THE FRIENDLY CHIEF OF THE HATTERAS INDIANS HAD BEEN BAPTIZED ON THE SUNDAY PRECEDING. THESE BAPTISMS ARE THE FIRST KNOWN CELEBRATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN SACRAMENT IN THE TERRITORY OF THE THIRTEEN ORIGINAL UNITED STATES.
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| Archeologists determined the actual site of the earthwork fort |
A wayside exhibit explains how the fortification was built:
English Explorers' Earthwork
European expeditions in the late 1500s commonly constructed small defensive structures. Soldiers built these earthworks by digging ditches and then forming wlls from the removed soil. Ralph Lane, a fortifications expert, led the 1585 English expedition. At this spot, Lane busied his men with constructing such an earthwork. You can see the reconstruction of his structure in front of you.
The purpose of the earthwork is unknown. You can see that its small ssize would not have provided nearly enough space for the numbers of 1585 explorers, let alone the mor than one hundred settlers that arrived two years later. Documentation shows the settlers lived in a palisaded fort, which has not yet been found.
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| Visitors can enter the fort along this path |
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| Reconstructed ditch and berm |
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| Another view of the earthworks |
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| A palisade gate like this would have blocked the entrance |
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| Four posts signify a single rectangular structure was located in the fort |
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| A final look at the trenches and walls |
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