The daily independent., 1937-04-17
DR.. Drahe Protests.
Raziilg Chapel At.
Old Fort Raleigh
Continued from Page One)
spread the fame of the Roanoke
Island Colony.

SCINJu lOl ~ lllS'LIJ JSoAo, ASOoIl-
oke I land has more than a mere
historical and patriotic signifi-
cance. For it was there that the
Episcopal sacrament Of baptism
wG5 performed for the first tine
N he new world.
The dep religious reverence in
which the sic is held is indicated
by the fact that the seal of the
Ea TEN Diocese of North Carolina
bears o. one side the replica OF
Sir Wal er Raleigh'S ships, on the
other side, the bap ism of Virginia
Dare. first white child of English
parents born in the New World.
Thus, to raze those structure
which he regards as the final
achievement of the long years ot
labor appears TO DR.. Drane as nc
less u.an deSecration.
From his re .raat at HillSboro lie
wri e the following letter to Mr..
S -ick.
DIR. Drane'S Letter
I've just now seen in print that
the government had indicated It's
willingness to take over the Roam
Cke Island historical site, provided
the recen ly erected buildings were
! removed.
I hope sir that it is a mistaken
r-porC and that you may not have
heard of any -uch.
If it stared anywhere, with
Cny human. it must have been
with Cna who never saw that Ro-
anoks Co.oniSls' Memorial chapel
at Fort Raleigh. I've heard only a
chorus of admiration of it from
.yeryCne who has seen it -.
I would protest against re-
raoyal CT that Log Cabin" chapel
building"
With an eye to the much more
elaborate development o. the Fort
Raleigh sit which may be expect
ed under government ownership,
and with full knowledge that the
present re tora.iCnS" there were
/ designed to do no more than Gre
ate an historical atmosphere, Mr..
Stick is cordial to the government
proposal and in the following let
. .cr presents the case for that idea
20 Dr.. Drane.
MIR. Sticks Let er
I am not a. al worried or per-
turbed concerning the suggestion
by the National Park Service that
in the event that bureau takes ov-
er Fer. Raleigh. the chapel and
ether building are to be removed.
I feel sure that no matter what
.ventuateS. the log structures will
not be destroyed, but viii be re-
tanned On this same o. on ano.h-
er suitable tract.
I personally am now and have
always been in favor OF the Fort
Raleigh area being placed under
. government ownership, and l have
known from the beginning Of the
plCjecU that III National Park
S-ryi-e was opposed 10 the erGc-
ion Of any permanent .tructure
which might be construed as an
attempt to duplicate the habita-
t.ons of the Raleigh coloniStS. And
they are eminently justified in
their desires. Outside of the fort
itself we have never had any .hing
even remotely approaching the
requirements CT an eXactin9 his
tOrian regarding the architecture
of that time and period and OF
these coioni- IS. We do not know
.ha, they even erected a house OF
sorship. though we do know the
.o.cnists held regular religious
] services.
Captain Ralph Lane built a
fort and a Number Of buildings,
-ne OF which we know to have
bccn of two story cOnStruc ion.
and another sufficiently large to
shelter IF f.ecn per ons. L lmph-
cite;y believe. from my research
and frc,n the research of more
/ -m.nent engineers and architects
o1d historians, such as Samuer
Ionge. Gregory, Pyle, James, dl-
rcctcrs CT the Bri ish Museum and
of Oxford Univer- ity, and others,
/ nat the construction was OF logs,
However. the National Park Ser
vice deals only in hard and last
facts. They candidly admit ignor-
ance of the exact type OF struc-
4 ture. as everyone else must so ad-
nit IN il such a time as new eVl-
Z. nee may 20 Sibly be produced.
In my original planning for the
so-called restoration, my man
thought was to create an atmoS-
Dher. of antiquity; to SO oullo
hat the visitor who entered the
| boundaries of the reservation
would he transported back three
hundred and fifty years. This cb-
/ iact has been in no way achleVeo'
The hard surfaced roadway NUT
ba removed. naturalis;ic planning
carried further, and every SEM
bIance of modern building re-
moved The whole thing was pure-
ly symbolic. ,,oo
Much that has been done since
ratircd from active supervision
NAV to the layman seem open to
criticism. Certainly the early col
onists did not build Asphalt block