Manteo, North Carolina
| Location | |
|---|---|
| State | North Carolina |
| County | Dare (county seat) |
| Region | Outer Banks / Roanoke Island |
| History | |
| Incorporated | 1899 |
| Named for | Manteo, a Croatan leader |
Manteo is a town in and the county seat of Dare County, North Carolina, on Roanoke Island between the mainland and the Outer Banks. It was incorporated in 1899 and is named for Manteo, a Croatan man who traveled to England with the English expeditions of the 1580s.[1] The north end of Roanoke Island is the site of the Roanoke colonies, the first English attempts to settle in North America.
History[edit]
The Roanoke colonies[edit]
Expeditions sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh reached the area in 1584, and Manteo and another Native man, Wanchese, returned with the explorers to England. A military colony occupied Roanoke Island in 1585–86. In 1587 a second colony, led by John White, settled there; White's granddaughter Virginia Dare, born on 18 August 1587, was the first English child born in the Americas. When White returned in 1590 the colonists were gone, and the fate of this “Lost Colony” remains unknown.[2]
Civil War and the Freedmen's Colony[edit]
Union forces captured Roanoke Island in February 1862 at the Battle of Roanoke Island. Formerly enslaved people who sought refuge with the Union army formed the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island, which existed from 1863 until 1867.[3]
Town of Manteo[edit]
A village grew up on Shallowbag Bay in the 19th century, and it became the county seat when Dare County was created in 1870. Manteo was incorporated in 1899.[1] Fishing, boatbuilding and trade with the Outer Banks sustained the town into the 20th century.
Commemoration and tourism[edit]
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, established in 1941, preserves the site associated with the Roanoke colonies. Paul Green's outdoor drama The Lost Colony has been performed there since 1937.[2] For the 400th anniversary of the Roanoke voyages in the 1980s, the town rebuilt its waterfront, and the Elizabeth II, a representation of a 16th-century sailing ship, was built for Roanoke Island Festival Park.[4]