Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1902 — Historic Roanoke Island. [ARTICLE]

Historic Roanoke Island.

The historic spot where the first English-speaking people landed within the boundaries of the United States is Roanoke Island, N. C., and the date was 1584. The people who settled there had been sent over by Sir Walter Raleigh, and they wrote such glowing letters home and made such attractive maps that in 1585 and 1587 the colony largely increased. It was at Roanoke Island in 1587 that Virginia Dare, the first Anglo-American, as Senator Simmons, of North Carolina, calls her, was born. She ought to have a monument, says Mr. Simmons, and he wants Congress to appropriate 125,000 for this purpose. Besides this, he has introduced a resolution asking Congress to appropriate $50,000 to aid the North Carolina people in an exposition, which is to be held next July and August in celebration of the landing on Roanoke Island. At this exposition there is to be a remarkable display of ancient manuscripts, maps, relics, curios, etc., which will illustrate an almost forgotten chapter in American history.— Kansas City Journal.