The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-05-15
DARE COAST is
LAND OF FIRSTS
BY SEA AND AIR
There Just Isn't Any Other Place
Where So Many Firsts
Have Transpired
By MIRIAM RABB

l
Banks in Dare County.
The story of Sir Walter Ra-
leigh's expeditions which ended in
tragic mystery on Roanoke Island
in the 1905 is told through Fort
Raleigh National Historical Site
and the outdoor drama, "The Lost
Colony"
Atop a tall sand dune known as
Kill Devil Hill on Bodie Island,
the impressive Wright Monument
and surrounding Wright Brothers
National Memorial m ark the
scene of the Wright's conquest OF
the air in 1908. Near the hill on
which the monument stands, a
simple granite marker designates
the take-off point for the "Kitty
Hawk" when the little aircraft
made its first trip into the air on
December II, 1908. Reproductions
of the Wrights' crude hangar,
shop and sparsely-furnished living
| quarters are Nearby.
The National Park Service,
which administers Wright Memo
rial, is installing a Museum of
Aviation at the Memorial. Ground
for this facility was broken at
the annual Aviation Anniversary
program on December IT, 1857.
HistOry's Greatest Mystery
Roanoke Island was the site of
the first English settlements in
North America, and the birth
place of Virginia Dare, first child
born of English parentage in the
New World.
Sir Walter Raleigh first sent
colonists to Roanoke Island in
1885, after an exploratory party
had claimed the land for Queen
Elizabeth l in 1884. After building
homes and the earthern walls of
Fort Raleigh, the surviving MEM
bers of the first colony returned
to England in 1886. The second
colony, numbering $50 and led by
Captain John White, arrived at
Roanoke Island IN 1887 and re-
paired the settlement. On August
10, 1887, Eleanor Dare, daughter
of Captain White and wife of Ana
MAS Dare, gave birth to daugh-
ter named Virginia because she
was the first English child born in
the new land named for England's
virgin queen. What became of Vir-
ginia Dare, her parents, and the
other colonists remains an I'M
solved mystery shrouded in legend.
Governor White had sailed back to
England for supplies in 1887. Eng
lands war with Spain delayed his
return to America, and when he
finally reached Roanoke Island
again in 1891 he found no trace of
the colonists except the word
"CROATOAN" carved on a tree.
Paul Green's symphonic drama,
"The Lost Colony" and the muse
UNI, restored dwellings, and forti-
fications in Fort Raleigh National
Historical Site relate the story of
the Inflated expeditions without
attempting to solve the mystery
of the colonists' disappearance.
The drama opens it's 10th season
June 81, 1859.
On land adjoining the Historical
Site, which overlooks Roanoke
Sound, the Garden Club of North
Carolina, Inc, has established an
| Elizabethan Garden of design pop
ular in England at the time of
Raleigh's expeditions. Open year
around, the garden is adorned with
valuable antique statuary and gar
den ornaments. Among them is a
marble statue entitled Virginia
Dare" and sculptured in Rome dur
ing the 10th Century.
Roanoke Island, between the
Outer Banks Islands and the North
Carolina mainland, is accessible by
paved highways and toll-free
bridges. It's largest town is Man
teo, county seat of Dare. Wan
cheese, at the southern end of the
Island, is a base for sports and
commercial fishing, and for water
fowl shooting. The two communi-
ties are named for the Indians
who accompanied Sir Walter Ra-
leigh's expeditions back to Eng
land for an appearance at the
court of Queen Elizabeth / in
1854.
Birthplace of Aviation
1t was in 1900 that Wilbur and
Orville Wright made their first
trip from Dayton, Ohio to Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina, after
learning that prevailing winds and
flat terrain might be what they
were seeking for their glider ex-
periments.
The Wrights came to Kitty
Hawk by boat from Elizabeth
City and made headquarters first
at the home of the village post
master, Captain William j. Tate,
and later in tent on the nearby
sand dunes.
They returned to this camp the