8. Dare Stones
From 1937 to 1940, a series of stones were discovered that supposedly tell the story of what happened to the Roanoke colonists. They are called the Dare stones because they were mostly apparently written by John White’s daughter, Eleanor Dare. Most historians consider the Dare stones a hoax, although many historians believe the first stone is authentic. In 1937, a tourist found an inscribed stone and brought it to Emory University to be examined for authenticity. Dr. Haywood Pearce, a professor of American history, didn’t claim that the stone was authentic, but it didn’t contradict what was known at the time.
The inscription was consistent with the phrasing of the time, and the colonists would have had tools to carve such a message. The inscriptions on the stone stated that Eleanor’s husband and daughter were dead and asked whoever found the stone to tell her father.
The inscription read:
Ananias Dare &
Virginia Went Hence
Unto Heaven 1591
Anye Englishman Shew
John White Govr Via
The other side of the stone reported that only seven of the Roanoke colonists were left alive, and Native Americans murdered the rest. It was signed EWD (Eleanor White Dare).
In 1940, 47 more stones had been found, dating until 1599. A stone dated from 1592 claims that the survivors of Roanoke are safe, living with a tribe in the Nacoochee Valley in Georgia. One dated from 1598 claims that Eleanor Dare had married the local chief. Another stone claimed that she had given birth to the chief’s daughter and the tribe was angry about it, and Eleanor requested that her father bring the girl back to England with him. A stone dated from 1599 stated that Eleanor Dare had died and that she had a daughter named Agnes that survived her.
After their discovery, the stones were examined by the Smithsonian Institute and a historian from Harvard University, who declared that the stones had some degree of authenticity, but by 1941, the stones had been exposed as forgeries. In 2015, a History Channel documentary detailed the study of the stones by archaeologists who found that the first stone was authentic, but the others were hoaxes, concluding that they were created with a drill.
Sources For Further Reading:
Virginia Places – The English in North America Before Jamestown
The Lost Colony – Roanoke Voyages
National Geographic Channel – The Fate of The Famed Lost Colony of Roanoke
The New York Times – Roanoke’s ‘Lost Colony’ Was Never Lost, New Book Says
National Archive – Did God Really Help the English Defeat the Spanish Armada?
Biography – Why Edgar Allan Poe’s Death Remains a Mystery
Ranker – 17 Theories Behind “Croatoan” and the Roanoke Colony Disappearance
Smithsonian Magazine – The Poetic Tale of Literary Outlaw Black Bart
National Parks – The Legend of The Ghost Ship: Carroll A. Deering
LA Times – Stranger Than Fiction: Mystery: The case of Ambrose Bierce
Greensboro – Could A Mysterious Stone Found Near Roanoke’s ‘Lost Colony’ Be Real?