The daily independent., 1936-09-02
Few Cities In
T'heWOrld Can
BOastTwOSuch
NJ on IL ments

| L. X. Warlng, Jl., ClCS GolVoi
of The Charleston IS. c. News
and Courier, who was in Elizabeth
City recently on a tour OF the
Ocean Highway, is writing an
interesting series CT articles on his
trip. Of Elizabeth City and its en-
virous, he writes:
This prosperous city of $4,000 on
the banks of the Pasquotank river
looking down Albemarle sound
toward the Atlantic ocean across
its protecting barrier of sand, is
the gateway to a land among
Americas richest territories in
picturesque terrain and historical
association.
Situated in North Carolina
northeastern cornor, it is within
fifty miles of Norfolk, the en-
trance to Virginia's famous Tide
water country. To the south are
Edenton. Washington and New
Bern a trio of old and interesting
North Carolina towns. To the east
is a pair of monuments which few
cities in the world could offer so
stirring to the imagination ana
bridging such a gap in the story
of mankind.
From the peak of the siXty-one
foot moderniStic granite pylon on
the loftieSt of the Kill Devil hills
erected in memory of the Wright
brothers first successful flight,
the visitor can look straight down
on Roanoke Island and see in the
minds eye back three and a half
centuries to the famous lost COL
ony of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Virginia Dare Born in 1887
Virginia Dare. the first child
born of English parents in the
New World, first saw the light of
day-and it probably was one of
those brilliant North Carolina days
of sunshine-AuguSt l8, 1887.
They celebrated the anniversary
the other day with fitting cere-
monies where the nation has set
up a national monument and
built reproductions of the houses
used by the ColoniStS.
The fate of the Lost Colony and
of little Virginia Dare remains one
of the most provocative mysteries
of American history. When a re-
lief expedition came in 1890, the
only trace was the word "Croa-
tan" carved in the bark Of tree.
Roanoke Island neStleS just in
side the long sandy, barrier which
extends from Virginia many miles
south to Cape Hatteras. and is
reached by roundabout drive
of seVenty-fEe miles from Eliza
beth City. The drive alone would
be worth the trip, for it leads
through lush and colorful farm
lands. where the WatermClonS fat
ten on the moist soil, and across
some of the biggest sand dunes
to be seen outside of a motion pic
ture of the Sahara Desert.
Past Kitty Hawk where the
Wright brothers flew. past Nags
Head and the shingled cottages of
the summer folk. the road goes
along the shore of the deep-Sea-
blue Atlantic ocean. At the end
of the road is the village of Man.
teo, Southern version little
known to SouthernerS of the Of
ten described New England fish
ing village.
Sage of Elizabeth City
w. o. Saunders, whose forth
right speech has made his writings
in the Elizabeth City Independent
known far outside the sphere of
newspaper, regards the ignorance
about Roanoke Island as little
short of a crime.
Through modeSty, inertia or
an ancient infcriority complex, "
says Mr.. Saunders, North Caro-
lima has neglected it's most prec-
ious history, and, to its evCrlaSt-
ing shame, within recent months
members of the Congress of the
United States have recorded the
fact that they had never heard of
Roanoke Island. of the colonial
ton efforts of Sir Walter Raleigh,
or of Virginia Dare
The Wright memorial monu-
ment, looking as though it were
about to take off from the brow
of the ninety-one-foot sand dune
on which the government reared
it at a cost of S25O,000 in 1882, was
visited by 10000 persons in 1885.
So far this year, since the tolls
on bridges reaching it were lifted,
$4,000 already have come to see
where man learned to emulate the
birds.