Eleanor and Virginia Dare Story

Item #5043

(August, 1988) This statue was inspired by the outdoor drama “The Lost Colony” written by Paul Green and performed each summer in Manteo, North Carolina. “The Lost Colony” is the story of the birth of English speaking civilization on Roanoke Island, Dare County, North Carolina by Sir Walter Raleigh and his colonists in the years 1584 – 1587. Virginia Dare, daughter of Ananias and Eleanor Dare, and granddaughter of Governor John White, was born on August 18, 1587, the first English child of the New World. The summer of 1987 marked the 400th year of Virginia’s birth and the 50th anniversary season of this play, produced by the Roanoke Island Historical Association. To celebrate her birthday, a special coat of arms from England’s Royal College of Arms was designed and presented to the Association. Virginia Dare is the only female who is not a monarch ever to receive her own heraldic design. I based my statue of mother and child on a sketch of the Eleanor Dare charm that is presented each season to the infants that portray baby Virginia in “The Lost Colony” performance on August 18.

The fate of the Lost Colony remains a 400-year-old mystery. When Governor White returned to Roanoke Island in 1590, he found nothing but a deserted colony and the words CROATOAN and CRO carved on a tree and post. When placed beside the statue of the Pilgrim, the mother and child seemed protected and assured of a future. I like to think that the colonists merely traveled to a new location, perhaps to search for the Chesapeake Bay, the area actually chosen by Sir Walter Raleigh for colonization. Perhaps Virginia lived to enjoy even her great-grandchildren.

Dr. Thomas F. Clark