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Historic site · Manteo, North Carolina
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
The location of the first English attempts to colonize North America, in the 1580s, including the Lost Colony, with a reconstructed earthen fort and the theater for the play The Lost Colony.
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Discover
About Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
In the 1580s Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored English expeditions to Roanoke Island. A first military colony, from 1585, was abandoned the following year. In 1587 about 115 men, women and children arrived, and Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas, was born there. When a supply ship returned in 1590, the colony was empty, and the word CROATOAN was carved on a post.
The Fort Raleigh National Historic Site preserves part of the area of those colonies. A small earthen fort has been reconstructed on the site of a period structure, and trails through the woods lead to the lagoon shore. The visitor center houses objects found in excavations and exhibits about the English, the Algonquian peoples of the region and the African and African American people who, during the Civil War, formed a freedmen’s colony there.
On the grounds is the Waterside Theatre, where The Lost Colony, the play that tells the colony’s story, has been presented outdoors on summer evenings since 1937.
The site also honors the island as a place of pioneering radio transmission experiments carried out in the early 20th century.
Before you go
Practical information
Cidade Turismo reviews its information regularly, but something may have changed. Check with the place before planning your trip.
How much time to set aside
One to two hours.
Best time
In the morning, in any season; on summer evenings for The Lost Colony play.
How to get there
It is on US-64, at the north tip of Roanoke Island, about 5 km from downtown Manteo, with parking.
Tip
There is no entrance fee for the historic site; The Lost Colony has its own ticket and should be booked in advance for summer performances.
Official website
Get your questions answered
Frequently asked questions about Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
What can you see at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site?
The reconstructed earthen fort, trails down to the lagoon, and the visitor center with artifacts and exhibits about the Roanoke colonies.
Do you have to pay to visit Fort Raleigh?
There is no entrance fee for the historic site. The play The Lost Colony has its own tickets.
When is the play The Lost Colony performed?
On summer evenings, outdoors, at the Waterside Theatre inside the historic site.