Foreword Through modern history, the intrigue surrounding the Hatteras Indians has always been overshadowed by that which befell the earliest attempt at English colonization, and it continues today. Native American sites relevant to Croatoan’s early heritage have been routinely exploited in fervent hopes of solving one of America’s oldest mysteries at the expense of a prior civilization. While enthusiasm for the continuing search is mutual from my perspective, these findings are offered for peer review and to interested individuals primarily to facilitate the advancement of the first natives’ perspective and their legacy. With the discovery of Indian Town’s location, many possibilities were generated by the existence of a village later concealed by drifted sands borne of myopic land management practices. From this site myriad possibilities emerge for interpreting the pre-contact period, as well as those of the following era when Ralegh’s expeditions arrived. It most assuredly portends evidence lending to a better understanding of the Hatteras Indians’ end times, while giving the greatest glimmer of hope yet to the dominant ambitions of the Lost Colony’s quest for the last eighty years. This investigation relied solely on primary source references and admittedly offered little background material. The latter items were left to the voluminous, ever-expanding library already produced by others whose writings could easily be recognized as superior to anything I could conceivably contribute. My mission here was purely exploration and discovery, leaving the historical findings for academia and others to discuss, interpret, and debate. Not to be seen shying away from a dauntingly hard task, but here it appeared the most constructive way to advance the interests of this effort was to avoid confusion by clearly stating what it was not. Therefore, no pretenses were made regarding history, archaeology, geology, or literary achievement. But, from the following pages, one will be rewarded in ways beyond its stated purpose. By its very nature, the project was mostly a real estate investigation into early settlement. While this manuscript is neither a work of fiction nor boasts of academic credentials, it is loosely structured as a narrative of discovery while operating as a vehicle for maneuvering a complex course of recorded events. It also performs as a ‘tour guide’ for those with a less than scholarly interest. Hopefully, intrigued curiosities will overcome the lack of normally expected annotations, footnotes, or a bibliography. Nonetheless, all of the dated document’s locations needed for verification were provided for vetting. But this investigator chose not to follow the usual procedure for want of losing the interest of general readers and history enthusiasts. Just as the past surviving Hatteras Indians were forced to adapt to changing circumstances, academics can adapt as well to accommodate those whose eyes would glaze over from navigating under the anesthesia of too much peripheral information. Possibly, a sufficient compromise for serving these divergent audiences was achieved by the narrative crafted in the pages beyond.
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