Learing history, dining & drinking, shopping in Manteo

First English Colony. Jamestown is well-known as the first permanent English settlement in America, dating to 1607.  But the first actual settlement and the birth of the first English child on the continent was right here on Roanoke Island in 1587.  It’s Sir Walter Raleigh’s “Lost Colony,” which is commemorated by the longest-running symphonic outdoor drama in America.*  The first American born English child was Virginia Dare.  There are many theories about what happened to the settlers, well laid out on Wikipedia.

Quaint downtown. Manteo has a charming old downtown right on Shallowbag Bay of the Albemarle Sound with art galleries, working artists, various shops, a wonderful bookstore—Manteo Booksellers, plus restaurants and a lively pub, Poor Richards, where we spent part of an evening after dinner, which was at: Ortega’z Southwestern Grill has a menu more like the typical local seafood fare than the Mexican restaurants we’re used to in California and Arizona, but is very good. 

Learning history & lighthouses. Just across a short bridge from downtown over the channel is Festival Park with re-creations of the original settlement site, of Elizabeth II (a representational ship that interprets one of the English merchant vessels from the Roanoke Voyage of 1585), and an American Indian community similar to that which the English explorers found in Roanoke Island in the 16th century.  

Bodie Island Light House

The Park has art shows such as the current Priceless Pieces Quilt Show, where Ray’s sister Martha’s work is on view, the Roanoke Island Maritime Museum, and special displays such as one about the restoration of the Bodie Island Light House, where we spent much time learning all about lighthouses.

Our favorite Manteo store. Ace Hardware, got its start in a small building in the old town and is now on the main highway through Manteo. plus has expanded to six (about to be seven) locations in the Outer Banks under the leadership of Ray Evans, his parents, and family.  Not only can you get hardware, but also beach supplies, barbecue stuff, spas, quart jars of North Carolina Mountain Honey, and just about anything a traveler or resident could need.

*Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green in 1937 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the birth of Virginia Dare, The Lost Colony is an epic outdoor drama combining music and dance to tell a fictional recounting of the fate of Roanoke Colony. It has played at Waterside Theater at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island near-continuously since that time, with the only interruption being during World War II. Alumni of the cast who have gone on to fame include Andy Griffith (who played Sir Walter Raleigh), William Ivey Long, Chris Elliott, Terrence Mann, and Daily Show correspondent Dan Bakkedahl.