Fort Raleigh National Historic Site preserves the location of Roanoke Colony, what was the first English settlement in the present day United States, built in 1587 and currently preserved for its national significance due to it being the location of the first English settlement in North America.

The colony, which was promoted and backed by entrepreneurs led by Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh (ca. 1554–1618), failed sometime between 1587 and 1590 because supply ships failed to arrive on time. When the supply ship did arrive, they found the settlement abandoned with no survivors remaining. The fate of the Lost Colony remains a mystery to this day.

The historic site is off U.S. Highway 64 on the north end of Roanoke Island, North Carolina, some 3 miles north of the town of Manteo.

At the visitors center museum, there are exhibits about the history of the English expeditions and colonies, the Roanoke Colony, and the Civil War history on the island as well as the Freedmen′s Colony that existed during 1863 through 1867.

For the most part, all that is seen at the Fort Raleigh site are a series of earth works.

Archeological studies show some earthwork as well as metallurgical activity present on this site from the 1580s. Just west of the earthwork were found copper nuggets, charcoal, antimony ore and furnace bricks. It is believed that this discovery could be the workshop site of Joachim Gans, a metal expert on the who was present on the 1585 expedition. The earthwork seen today was reconstructed in 1950.

Onsite non federal park partners do charge fees.

It was a warm night, too warm for me and had to sleep outside of my bag most of it. I awake wontedly early, even wantedly (if I can use the latter to mean looking forward to something) and begin searching for WiFi which I find at a f-mart not far from the d-mart where I overnighted. I wait here while charging my computer battery until about six-thirty am when the light of day comes through the fog and rain. However, I wait for a bit longer to finish my second cup of hot before driving north on state highway 12 to Carrituck Beach Lighthouse. When I arrive at the lighthouse, it is still too early for anything to be open so I snap a few photos of the lighthouse in the fog and then head back south.

The next stop is the Wright Brother National Memorial, a park that I believe that I visited back in 1983. Much has changed here on the Otter Banks by way of subdividing and building homes. The area is totally inundated with private homes, businesses and everything for the traveling turkeys for their vacation to the beach front including hoards of shops where they can buy there useless souvenirs.

Leaving the air field, I drive west across a bridge onto Roanoke Island where I stop at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Upon arriving, I as the ranger, Does this park have to do with the colonization? to which he said yes. I then say, I just came from Jamestown which is the first permanent English settlement in America, what is this one?

Then ranger Rob tells me that this settlement was before Jamestown but was an unsuccessful one. Suddenly, my long lost schooling in American history comes back to me, Roanoke Island! This is were the English first tried to colonize the Americas but the colony failed and they have yet to find out what happened to the colonists.