Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Raleigh's New Fort in Virginia, 1585
The coast of North Carolina is a long, narrow chain of low sand-hills, locally called the Banks, separating the ocean from the broad, shallow bodies of water, Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, which are the estuaries of the Neuse and Roanoke and other great rivers of the State. At irreg ular intervals the line of the Banks is broken by narrow and ever-shifting inlets, through which ?ow the ocean tides, turning the inner waters into vast salt lakes, very rich in all varieties of sea products.
Within this breastwork of barren downs are few islands; but there is one of supreme importance in the history of the anglo-saxon race in America. Roanoke island, about twelve miles long by three in width, lies between Roanoke and Croatan sounds, the shallow waters which connect Pamlico and Albemarle, and is two miles from the Banks, and thrice that distance from the mainland. Here was established the first English colony; here was born the first white American; here was celebrated the first Protestant rite within the present limits of the United States. It is the starting point of events as pregnant with great results in the wonderful history of our race, as was the landing of our forefathers on the shores of Kent, when they migrated from their Hol'stein homes more than a thousand years before.
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