I’m positive that I took American history during my school years. But for some reason, nothing (or very little) seemed to stick. I can remember my childhood friend Gordy Carlson’s phone number (598-2426…it was even before 10 digit dialing!) but can’t remember when the war of 1812 was! Just kidding. But its almost that bad. I’m ashamed at how little I know. But I think this old dog IS learning some new tricks about history and its filling me with lots of questions and desires to learn even more! I hope this adventure is having the same effect on the kids. Perhaps when they are learning American history in the classroom they will already have a solid foundation and they can capitalize on the opportunity to dig deeper to where their questions lead them.
All that to say, I had no clue that there was a group of English settlers who came to America well before the Pilgrims I learned about in school. It was 1587 and they settled on Roanoke Island just a short drive from our campground. So we packed a lunch and drove out to the Roanoke Island Festival Park.
