Fort Raleigh Gateway, Manteo
The memorial consists of two columns of red brick and limestone standing just over 12 feet tall on a three foot square base. Each column appears to be of brick with three separated bands of limestone. A stone tablet with a gable top holds the inscriptions. The columns each have a limestone cap with scalloped edges that overhang the columns by several inches. Above the cap is a stone pedestal holding a sphere within a square block around its equator.
Left pillar: TO / SIR WALTER RALEIGH’S / COLONISTS / 1584-1587 / WHOSE FRIEND AND GUIDE / WAS THE INDIAN / MANTEO / CHRISTENED AND CALLED / LORD OF ROANOK / AND / PASAMONGUEPEUK / AUGUST 13, 1587 / IN REWARD OF HIS / FAITHFUL SERVICES
Right pillar: TO / VIRGINIA DARE / FIRST BORN / OF THE ENGLISH / IN AMERICA / NEAR BY THIS PLACE / BORN THE EIGHTEENTH / AND BAPTISED THE / TWENTIETH OF AUGUST / 1587 / AND THEN VANISHED / WITH THOSE COLONISTS
August 18, 1930
35.910140 , -75.669290
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Reynolds, Carolyn. “Erect Memorial in Memory of Virginia Dare,” The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), January 26, 1930
“A New Deal for Fort Raleigh,” New Deal of The Day, May 2, 2017, nddaily.blogspot.com, (accessed May 22, 2022) Link
“Entrance to Old Fort Raleigh, Roanoke Island, N.C.,” in North Carolina Postcard Collection (P052), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Link
“Fort Raleigh National Historic Site Resource Guide,” National Park Service, Southeast Region, 1999 (accessed May 20, 2022) Link
“Give Pillars to Memorial Body,” The News And Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 19, 1930
“Outlines of Fort Raleigh Marked,” The News And Observer (Raleigh, NC), June 25, 1950
“Reconstructed Past, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed June 1, 2022) Link
“To Virginia Dare,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed May 20, 2022) Link
“To Walter Raleigh’s Colonists,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed May 20, 2022) Link
“Will Dedicate Memorial to Virginia Dare Monday,” The News And Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 17, 1930
Yes
Limestone, red brick masonry
Roanoke Colony Historical Association with funding from U.S. Congress
$2,500
The unveiling took place during the annual celebration for the birth date of Virginia Dare 343 years prior. Captain W.H. Kindervater, US Army Reserves, supervising engineer presented the memorial on behalf of the United States Government. Miss Mabel Evans accepted on behalf of the Roanoke Colony Memorial Association. Dr. Archibald Henderson, University of North Carolina delivered the main address.
The Roanoke Colony Memorial Association was chartered in 1894 with the principal aim to acquire and preserve the site of the “fort” associated with the English expeditions to Roanoke between 1584-1590. Shortly after incorporation they acquired the first 250 acres of what is now the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and development of the site as a tourist destination began in the 1920’s. In 1926 Congressman Lindsay Warren successfully sponsored a bill to authorize $2,500 to erect “a tablet or marker at Sir Walter Raleigh Fort on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in memory of Virginia Dare, who was born there on August 18, 1587, and who was the first child of English parentage to be born in America.” Access to this memorial was relatively short lived. In 1934 ownership of the fort was transferred to the North Carolina Historical Commission as a state park. Using federal funds the park was reconstructed as an early English settlement. A wooden palisade and blockhouse were constructed and a set of wooden gatehouses that had stood behind the brick and limestone pillars were reconstructed over them. They remained hidden until at least 1960. Although the site had passed to the National Park Service in 1939, World War II prevented further development. Beginning in 1950, many of the 1930s and earlier changes to the site were reversed based on new archeological evidence. Photos from 1960 show the wood guardhouses still in place but these structures and the 1930 pillars were then removed after the park entrance was relocated
At the time of this memorial’s creation it was the practice for memorials built with federal funding to be created under the auspices of the War Department. The Roanoke Colony Historical Association submitted a plan for memorial tablets on each side of the two pillars. The army quartermaster colonel in charge of the project objected, saying that “It is imperative that the inscriptions should include references to the fact that this is the site of Fort Raleigh and especially to Virginia Dare,” and would only allow two panels facing the highway with mention of other items if size allowed.
The memorial columns are located at the intersection of Queen Elizabeth Avenue and Budleigh Street in Manteo. They are on the right when traveling north on Queen Elizabeth Avenue. The street address is 400 Queen Elizabeth Ave, Manteo NC 27954.
The Dare County Veterans Memorial is located nearby, at the intersection of Sir Walter Raleigh Street and Queen Elizabeth Avenue.
The columns bracket the entrance to a paved parking area near the waterfront. Buildings stand to either side of the lot.
The gateway was originally constructed at what is now the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. The gateway was removed circa 1960. It was not determined when they were erected at the current location.
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