Four centuries of powerful myth surround the infant Virginia Dare. Abandoned by England in 1587 and left to fend for themselves in the Carolina wilderness, Virginia and more than a hundred other colonists disappeared, leaving behind only scattered clues about their fate. Some say the Lost Colony survived by joining local Native American tribes. Some say Virginia Dare’s descendants still walk among us. Will we ever really know?
Following back roads and cold trails, author Marjorie Hudson stands toe to toe with the bones of English settlers and joins generations of historians, archeologists, and obsessed amateurs in seeking an answer to the mystery: What became of Virginia Dare and her family?
An unconventional look at history, Searching for Virginia Dare moves from research to reflection, and brings the author face to face with her own life’s journey—the painful loss of a child, and family stories that, as an adult, she is only now beginning to understand. From laughter, to grief, to revelation, Searching for Virginia Dare is a unique narrative about the things that haunt us all.
In the tradition of William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways, Hudson’s story is a spellbinding journey, an invitation into a deeper understanding of America and ourselves.
In 1587, before Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, three English ships filled with stouthearted men, women and children landed on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. Within two months, a child was born Virginia Dare the first baby ever born of English parents on American soil. Less than two years later, Virginia and the rest of the "Lost Colony" had vanished. Their fate continues to fascinate scholars of early America. Did the settlers starve from lack of supplies? Were they killed by Native Americans? Wiped out by a hurricane? Or did some of the colonists survive? These questions drive Hudson's admittedly quixotic quest. Put off by the far-out legends and obsessive theories of her predecessors, Hudson begins her search with no preconceptions. She interviews folklorists and archeologists, studies archival records and personal letters, and examines ancient artifacts, only to find what we already knew: nobody really knows what happened to the settlers. Without a central theory to propel the book forward and create suspense, the narrative meanders and loses its way. Hudson ultimately argues that the mystery and loss surrounding Virginia Dare represent a quintessential American story: "Loss reminds us that life is a mystery; that death lurks beneath the surface of our cheerful days; that everything can change in an instant." Nevertheless, the book, Hudson's first, breaks no new ground for serious historians, and its unusual blend of history, fiction and memoir presents too many threads to keep a reader passionately on the hunt.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
