PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



The Freedmen 

 of Roanoke Island: 



The Other Lost 

 Colony 



By Kathleen Angione 



c 



V_^rossing the bridge onto the northern tip of Roanoke Island, visitors 

 can hardly help but stare at an 1 1 -foot-wide sign announcing the birthplace of 

 Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the new world. 



Across the road, a simple street sign marks another of our nation's historic 

 firsts. The thin strip of metal reads: "Freedmen's Colony Road." There is no 

 room to explain that the Freedmen's Colony was a camp of ex-slaves that 

 became a thriving colony — one that built schools, churches and homes during 

 the Civil War. 



Until recently, that explanation was left to a dilapidated monument at the 

 far end of a motorist pull-off area. The monument's faded plastic pictures and 

 overgrown planter were plaintive reminders of Freedmen's voices absent from 

 America's stories of bravery, perseverance and freedom. 



Most people have not heard about this other "lost" colony that is rarely 

 mentioned in history books. But a handful of people, mainly from Manteo, are 

 steadily raising awareness about the Freedmen and their remarkable colony. 



"My goal is to make sure that this type of information is incorporated into 

 North Carolina history," says Virginia Tillett, a Dare County commissioner and 

 one of the leaders in the effort. 



"None of the areas in and around North Carolina would have been as 

 beautiful as they are if it wasn't for slave labor," Tillett says. The Freedmen's 

 Colony was an opportunity for ex-slaves to contribute to United States history as 

 free citizens. 



"I think that type of history needs to be told," says Tillett, who is also 

 assistant dean of continuing education at the College of the Albemarle. She often 

 speaks to school and community groups in the area about the Freedmen's Colony. 



Each fall, Tillett joins neighbors Arvilla Bowser and Dellerva Collins 

 — along with 20 volunteers — to organize a festival in Cartwright Park to 

 remember the Freedmen. Bowser, who retired from the National Park Service, 

 co-wrote a book about the colony. 



The women also collaborate with the Dare County Heritage Trail, a citizen 

 committee, to commemorate the colony. In 2001, the committee erected a marble 

 monument at the Fort Raleigh visitor center. In 2004 the monument was added to 

 the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. 



This and other Freedmen's Colony markers are now incorporated into 

 Roanoke Island's Civil War Trail, adds committee chairperson Mel Covey. 



"We've just been trying to spread the word and share it with everybody," 

 says Collins. "We've just been trying to keep the story alive." 



Continued 



LEFT: Each square on this pictorial quilt illustrates an aspect of the 

 Freedmen 's legacy. 



COASTWATCH 25 



