In 1586, those colonists returned to England. In 1587, another attempt at colonization was made, but this time with 89 men, 17 women, and 11 children under the leadership of John White. They were to settle on the Chesapeake, but landed on Roanoke and stayed. Unfortunately, relationships with the native population sank to a new low.

At the urging of the colonists, John White returned to England for provisions, but was unable to return to the colony due to war with Spain. When he finally returned three years later, he could find no trace of the colonists, who included his daughter and granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first child born in the New World. It remains a mystery to this day.

Any visit to Fort Raleigh will begin in the Lindsay Warren Visitor Center. Inside you will find a narrative exhibit that time lines the rationale for colonization and Raleigh’s part in it through to the story of the lost colony. Across the hall, visitors pass through the Elizabethan Room, an attractive wood-paneled Tudor room that was once part of Heronden Hall in Kent. On the other side of the room is a theatre with a 17-minute film of the events of 1584-1587. The film is recommended viewing for an appreciation of events here.

From the center, there are paths through a wooded area, one of which leads to a primitive reconstruction of a moat and earth-berm fortification on the site of the original fort of 1586. The settlers’ houses, of which there is no trace, would have been built outside its walls. There isn’t much to see here; this is a story, almost a folk legend, really, of a tragedy that was the consequence of misunderstanding and culture clash.