The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-05-28
LOST COLONY
Continued from Page One)


facts concering the first attempts
at colonization. This production
was filmed at Fort Raleigh by
the North Carolina State Depart
ment of Education and was
shown during the following years
in the North Carolina schools.
BY 1926 the celebration had
reached the pageant stage and in
that year a full scale re-enact-
ment was presented before thou
sands of spectators including the
British Ambassador, Sir Esme
Howard.
In 1927, Dare County through a
bond issue, built the original
bridge across Roanoke Sound
and three years later, through
private capital, the Wright Mem
orial Bridge across Currituck
Sound was opened to any daring
motorist who had the toll charge
and the fortitude to try and
negotiate the treacherous outer
banks sand track otter referred
to somewhat loosely, as "a road :.
The hard surface roads came
shortly thereafter, and for the
first time Roanoke Island be-
came accessible by automobile.
With the isolation thus ended,
plans went forward for bigger
and better celebrations and in
1882, with the late w. o. Saun-
ers of Elizabeth City as Presi-
dent, the Roanoke Island Histor-
ical Association was formed. The
late Sen. josiah w. Bailey sug-
gested that the new group name
a commission to conceive and
produce a celebration for 1884 to
commemorate the anniversary of
the original discovery of Roanoke
Island by Captains Amadas and
Barlow in 1884. AS the result of
an appeal to Congress by Lind
say Warren, then First District
Representative, a Roanoke Is
land Commission was appointed
and made an official visit to the
Island to inspect the wealth OF
authentic historic material al
Fort Raleigh. The Commission
reported as follows. From these
beginnings English civilization
in America had its inception. But
for the pioneer work of Sir Wal
ter Raleigh and his associates,
encouraged by their Queen Eli
zabeth, the first permanent set
Element at Jamestown would
never have been attempted or eff
fected, and the subsequent his
tory of America would have been
entirely different. Instead of an
English speaking civilization in
America, we would have had a
French or a Spanish civilization.
At this time the country was
desperately trying to recover
from an economic depression and
as a result the Civil Works Ad-
ministration, one of the many re-
covery agencies created in this
era, was called upon to assist
with labor and supplies in re-
creating a fort to be used in the
successful celebration of 1884.
In 1886 Bradford Fearing of
Manteo succeeded w. o. Saun-
ers as President of the Roanoke
Island Historical Association.
Through the untiring efforts of
this farsighted and devoted man,
referred to by Lindsay Warren
as 'the human dynamo that
drove The Lost Colony to sue
cess, the plans for the present
day Lost Colony were conceived.
1t was Bradford Fearing who
personally contacted Paul Green
and sold him on the possibility
of using the story of The Lost
Colony as dramatic material
Paul Green was no stranger to
Roanoke Island, having visited
the site as early as 1921, and
when offered the opportunity to
try out a new theatrical art
form, which he later called the
symphonic drama, he agreed to
start work on the idea at once.
Using all the mystery, sus-
pense, suffering and history
making facts contained in the
story of The Lost Colony, Paul
Green combined the spoken
word with music, pantomine and
dance to produce the first of
many symphonic dramas. BY
1887, exactly $50 years after the
birth of Virginia Dare, the final
scrip was submitted for pro-
duction. The late DR.. Frederick
w. Koch, founder of the Carolina
Flaymakers at the University of
North Carolina, was asked to be-
come advisory director. Sam
who later succeeded
Koch at the university, was
selected to direct the production
With the assistance of techni-
.ians from the Plyamakers and