20 April 
There’s no doubt that we enjoyed an eclectic set of activities today. We started out with quiet, manicured gardens (post here); delved a bit into the early history of the island (post here); and finally got a lighthouse ‘fix’ and had a great al fresco lunch with a view (post here).
To round out our day, we intended to visit the Aquarium. That plan changed when we turned into the parking lot and found ourselves confronted with five busses — with school names prominently displayed on the windshields. Shifting gears, we went to the Roanoke Island Festival Park instead. As the brochure touted, we “traveled back to 1585 and were home in time for dinner.”
The park is designed to celebrate the first English Settlement in the New World. It has costumed interpreters and opportunities to participate in interactive demonstrations that give visitors a sense of what life was like back in the late 16th century.
It is a family attraction; no doubt about that. There were plenty of families with kids, and even a school group or two, but we found that the layout of the 25-acre park lent itself quite well to spreading out the crowds. Of course, it helped that we were there during the off season. The $8/adult admission is good for two consecutive days; $1 discount coupon (which I had printed out just in case) is available from the website.
We started our visit at the Elizabeth II, a reproduction ship built to represent one of the seven vessels that brought the colonists to Roanoke Island in 1587. In fact, the repro is named after one of those ships.
Elizabeth II — this 69-foot (21 m) ship is the centerpiece of the Festival Park.
We had the ship to ourselves to explore and wandered above- and below-decks at our leisure. In the cramped quarters aboard, that was a good thing. It got a bit crowded towards the end when a group of school kids showed up for the demo-shooting of the gun. By then, we were ready to move on. So, after watching the demo, we left the ship for the kids to enjoy.
Tour of the ship (clockwise from top left): gentlemen’s sleeping quarters; cooking area below-decks; rope for lines and riggings; the bowsprit; Mui aboard the ship; meal set up in the captain’s cabin (not sure I care for the main course); captain’s quarters; capstan (used to raise the anchor).
The sailor that is going to assist with the gun demo is ready for action.
Next, we headed over to the area representing the English Settlement. Here, we had an opportunity to interact with costumed interpreters portraying colonists going about daily life.
We watched the blacksmith make a nail, and the carpenter make a table leg and a tool handle using equipment that would have been typical for the period. We also had a chance to peek into canvas tents that would have been occupied by the soldiers that were charged with the safety of the colonists.
Mui steps back in time to a 16th century settlement site.
This costumed interpreter acted as our guide, demonstrating the role various tradesmen played in the colony: blacksmith (top left); carpenter making a tool handle (top right); carpenter turning out a table leg (bottom left); soldier in his armor (bottom right).
A school group showed up just as the interpreter finished demonstrating a bowling-like game that would have been popular back in the day. So, as the English Settlement became overrun with kids, we headed to the American Indian Village. This area was disappointing as there were no interpreters and we had to rely on limited signage to advance our understanding of life in an Algonquian village. From what I have read, during the ‘in’ season, the interactive demonstrations here are most interesting. Too bad we didn’t get to see them.
The American Indian Settlement (clockwise from top left): illustration of a 1585 Indian Village drawn by John White; Longhouses could be 36-72 feet (11-22 m) long; rattles made with turtle carapaces; the Leader’s House was typically the major structure in the village; a pole-and-slat frame called a hurdle was one of the means for cooking fish.
One of the most interesting things we saw in this area was a replica Dance Circle. Dance was interpreted as part of religious rituals, celebrations, and victories. Dances usually took place in the settlement, but sometimes the posts were placed in fields between towns so that people from surrounding villages could also participate.
Dance Circles were an important part of life for the American Indians.
Before leaving the Festival Park, we attended a showing of The Legend of Two-Path, a docudrama that recounts the story of the meeting of two very different cultures — the Native Americans of Roanoke Island and the English. The story is told from the perspective of the natives, but it is based on facts as recorded by the English (the only written information available). It explores the challenges encountered in the Algonquian characters of Manteo, Wanchese, and Skyco (Two Path). I’d say that this movie alone was worth the price of admission.
An interesting docudrama; worth the price of admission to the Festival Park.
On that note, we brought our day on Roanoke Island to a close, but didn’t quite complete our sightseeing for the day. On our way to Hatteras Camp, we stopped to visit the last of the four lighthouses of the OBX. I wrote about the Bodie Lighthouse in a previous post, so I won’t revisit it here.
By the way, if you’d like to see full-size versions of the pictures used in the collages for this post, go to my online gallery and click the link for the Roanoke Island Festival Park.
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