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During the 20th century, Roanoke's boundaries expanded through multiple annexations from the surrounding Roanoke County, and it became Southwest Virginia's economic and cultural hub. The 1982 decision by N&W to relocate their headquarters out of the city, combined with other manufacturing closures, led Roanoke to pivot to a primarily service ...
- Hotel Roanoke
The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center is a historic hotel...
- List of Neighborhoods in Roanoke, Virginia
Annexed into Roanoke in 1976, Southern Hills is an area of...
- Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital (CRMH) is a private...
- Roanoke Valley
The Roanoke Valley (/ ˈ r oʊ. ə ˌ n oʊ k / ROH-ə-nohk) in...
- Hotel Roanoke
Learn how Roanoke evolved from a salt lick village to a railroad hub and a festival city in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Discover its attractions, such as the Roanoke Star, the historic market and the trails.
- Overview
- John White's Departure and the Spanish Armada
- Was the 'Lost Colony' of Roanoke Ever Found?
- HISTORY Vault: Roanoke: A Mystery Carved in Stone
How could 115 people just vanish?
The origins of one of America’s oldest unsolved mysteries can be traced to August 1587, when a group of about 115 English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. Following an earlier, failed attempt at settlement on Roanoke two years earlier, these colonists intended to form the first permanent English outpost in the New World.
Later that year, it was decided that John White, governor of the new colony, would sail back to England in order to gather a fresh load of supplies. But just as he arrived, a major naval war broke out between England and Spain, and Queen Elizabeth I called on every available ship to confront the mighty Spanish Armada.
In August 1590, White finally returned to Roanoke, where he had left his wife and daughter, his infant granddaughter (Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas) and the other settlers three long years before. He found no trace of the colony or its inhabitants, and few clues to what might have happened, apart from a single word—“Croatoan”—carved into a wooden post.
Investigations into the fate of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke have continued over the centuries, but no one has come up with a satisfactory answer. “Croatoan” was the name of an island south of Roanoke that was home to a Native American tribe of the same name. Perhaps, then, the colonists were killed or abducted by Native Americans.
Other hypotheses hold that they tried to sail back to England on their own and got lost at sea, that they met a bloody end at the hands of Spaniards who had marched up from Florida or that they moved further inland and were absorbed into a friendly tribe.
For centuries, the disappearance of 117 colonists from Roanoke Island has been this country's oldest mystery. Now, stonework experts Jim and Bill Vieira will use cutting-edge technology to take a deeper look at the evidence left behind.
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The rich history of the Roanoke Valley and its heritage have been shaped by great people and events going back to the Native Americans who settled the Blue Ridge Mountains. The people of the Roanoke Valley in Virginia's Blue Ridge proudly embrace their history and love sharing it with visitors.
Learn more about the history of the city of Roanoke by visiting some of the local museums and attractions that specialize in local history: O. Winston Link Museum & History Museum of Western Virginia. Harrison Museum of African American Culture. Virginia Museum of Transportation.
The lost colony of Roanoke is one of the most-notorious mysteries in American history; the cryptic clues left at the abandoned settlement and the lack of any concrete evidence make it the focus of wild speculation and theories. In the settlement’s difficult founding year, its mayor, John White, left for England to request resources and manpower.
Roanoke, city, administratively independent of, but located in, Roanoke county, southwestern Virginia, U.S. It lies on the Roanoke River, at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley, between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, 148 miles (238 km) west of Richmond. Settled in 1740, it developed.
