Dispatches From the Parks: Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
Being one of the east coast of the United States’ most tourist friendly areas, the Outer Banks of North Carolina having a large National Park Service presence isn’t that surprising. There are actually three national park sites on the Outer Banks. Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Wright Brothers National Memorial get a lot of attention, but it’s the third site that I started my visit to the Outer Banks with. Whereas Cape Hatteras and Wright Brothers can get up to three million and half a million visitors a year respectively, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on the island of Roanoke only received 293,000 visitors last year. Despite that, Fort Raleigh preserves an immense range of history as well as a cool ecosystem right on the waters of the Outer Banks.
After a nine-hour drive from my area to the park, I was really excited to get my adventure going. The first thing I did after parking in the park’s main lot, was make a beeline to the visitor center. Fort Raleigh has an immense amount of history ranging from 16th century exploration all the way to Civil War era events. Fort Raleigh is most famous for being the site of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a failed colony in America’s early European history. The visitor center does a great job at not only presenting this history, but also explaining actions that took place around the site during the Civil War and the area’s importance as the site of one of the first uses of radio.
From the visitor center I walked straight onto the Thomas Hariot Nature Trail, which was a fantastic introduction to the Outer Banks ecosystem. The tree canopy of the area gives it a jungle like feel that was only increased with the large increase in humidity from my home state of Connecticut. The trail weaves through some of the park’s major sites including the visitor center, outdoor theater (during the summer it has a nightly showing of a play dramatizing the events of the Roanoke colony) and a series of gardens run by another organization but are still free to visit. One part of the trail flirts with leading straight to the nearby waters of Roanoke Island before it eventually does deliver a stellar view of the shore. The centerpiece of the trail, though, is a recreation of the earthworks of the fort that was put up by the colonists. The earthworks are worn down in a way that makes it feel like the original and while it is not it is located on the actual site of the original earthworks giving you a great glimpse into history.
While there is a lot that this site covers you ultimately do not have to spend much time here. I did not stay for the play, which feels like it would have been a lot of fun. Unless you are staying for that, though, you don’t need to spend more than an hour or two to get the most out of the site. However, you will be learning a lot in that short amount of time.
