Dismissed as a forgery, could a mysterious stone found near Roanoke’s ‘Lost Colony’ be real?

Americans celebrated the nation’s birth this week, and one of the mysteries of its founding may soon be illuminated. This fall, new research may confirm the authenticity of an engraved stone found near the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke — a stone dismissed for decades as a forgery.

“If this stone is real, it’s the most significant artifact in American history of early European settlement,” said Ed Schrader, a geologist and president of Brenau University in Georgia, where the stone is kept. “And if it’s not, it’s one of the most magnificent forgeries of all time.”

On July 4, 1584, English explorers sent by Sir Walter Raleigh landed on Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina. After a botched attempt to establish a settlement, Raleigh sent a second group of colonists in 1587, led by John White and comprising more families. With him he brought his adult daughter, Eleanor White Dare, and his son-in-law, Ananias, a stonemason. Soon after they arrived, Dare gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Virginia.