The Story Of The Roanoke Half Dollar And Virginia Dare

PCGS - The early years of American colonial history geographically center around the Eastern seaboard of North America, where throngs of vessels filled with European settlers came ashore in the 1500s and 1600s. Many of these settlers came for a short time to search for valuable resources or establish trading outposts that were abandoned for any number of reasons. Many of those who weren't killed by flu, bad weather, or other threats returned home to Europe before too long. And then there is Virginia Dare, the first person of English descent who was born in early Colonial America.


Silver Commemorative, 1937 50C Roanoke, PCGS MS68

Read More: Roanoke Colony Half Dollar Commemorative History, Facts, and Specifications
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Unfortunately, Virginia Dare's ultimate fate and that of the colony in what later became North Carolina remains a major mystery offering little hard evidence to anthropologists and historians. But the story of Virginia Dare and her "lost colony" has inspired everyone from romance and adventure novelists to moviemakers, and in 1937 Dare and her Roanoke Colony were memorialized on a Commemorative Half Dollar.

Virginia Dare and the Lost Roanoke Colony

While little is known about Virginia Dare's later life, details from her early life are clear. She was born on August 18, 1587 to Ananias and Eleanor Dare and was the granddaughter of Governor John White. Baptized on August 24, 1587 into the Church of England, the young girl was given the name "Virginia" to symbolize her birth in what was then Virginia. Today, Roanoke Colony would be located in what is now the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and it was there that this settlement of approximately 115 men, women, and children existed.

Governor White left the colony a few days after his granddaughter's birth to return to England for supplies with the vow to return within three months. However, incursions with the Spanish Armada pushed back his return to Roanoke Colony for some time. White embarked for Roanoke in time for what would have been Virginia's third birthday only to find the colony had been abandoned. It was apparent to White that the Roanoke colonists left the site voluntarily and that there were no signs of raids or attacks against the village or its residents.

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