On Roanoke Island in North Carolina, about an hour’s drive from Edenton, there are two towns. Manteo, on the island’s northeastern waterfront facing Roanoke Sound, is the more popular and populous of the two. Wanchese has fewer people than Manteo, but more land area, comprising most of the island’s southern end that faces Pamlico Sound.
Photo Credit: The Roanoke Island Historical Association for the costumes.
Manteo strives to be English. It has a walkable downtown with shops and restaurants including an authentic British tavern. Across the bay from Manteo beside Festival Island floats a replica of the 16th-century caravel, Elizabeth II, which occasionally visits nearby towns such as Edenton. Manteo’s shops have names that imply wealth and leisure, such as Sister’s Boutique, Teasers Pilates, and Silver Bonsai Gallery. Manteo is the seat of Dare County, with a courthouse, law offices, a campus of the College of the Albemarle, and a Town Common.
Wanchese, on the other hand, has never been incorporated as a town. Although its residents refer to it as a village, it is officially just a “census designated place.” Wanchese has no classy shops and no walkable downtown. Its commerce consists of businesses that wrap around Wanchese Harbor, with names like Doghouse Sportfishing, O’Neal’s Sea Harvest, Bayliss Boatworks, and Wanchese Trawl & Supply. Its only government office is the Marine Industrial Park Authority, although it does have a Volunteer Fire Department and a Community Center.
Wanchese is the home of some 1500 proud and independent residents who will fervently defend their community if challenged. Recently, over a hundred Wanchese residents attended a Dare County Commission meeting to speak against a neighborhood of cluster homes being proposed in Wanchese by a developer. Dozens of signs are now posted around town that say, “Save our village. STOP cluster homes!” Manteo, on the other hand, has cluster homes and condos galore.
Spend a day on Roanoke Island visiting these towns, and you will likely be amazed at how different they are; just as different as the two Native Americans for whom they are named. Manteo and Wanchese (the men) were from neighboring tribes on the Outer Banks, born into good social standing in their respective villages. The two young men were handsome, strong, and smart, chosen carefully by tribal elders to board Arthur Barlowe’s ship at Roanoke Island in August 1584 and travel to England, arriving about a month later.
To Sir Walter Raleigh, the two Indians would attract attention and interest from English nobility to support future expeditions to North America. To the tribal elders, Manteo and Wanchese would serve as spies to observe the English in their homeland and report on their findings when they returned to America. The scholar and scientist Thomas Harriot worked closely with the two Indians on the voyage back to England to learn and teach their native languages. Harriot and Manteo were quick studies, and their language skills would serve them well in times to come. Wanchese was capable of learning English too, but he resisted speaking it.
Captain Barlowe’s ship spent a few days in Plymouth, England, before taking its passengers up the River Thames to London. Manteo and Wanchese resided with Harriot at Raleigh’s townhome called Durham House, which overlooked the Thames west of the city walls. There, they continued to learn each other’s languages. In October 1584, Sir Walter held a formal reception at Durham House for the two Indians, whom he dressed in English attire to show they could be anglicized. But they were uncomfortable in stuffy English clothing, and Raleigh’s guests could tell. One of them, Count Von Wedel of Germany, later wrote, “Their usual habit was a mantle of rudely tanned animal skins, no shirt, and a pelt before their privy parts.”
Manteo and Wanchese spent nine months in England, including an audience with the Queen, according to some historians. They were taken around the city and stayed occasionally with Raleigh’s friends, in Sir Walter’s interest to drum up more support for his next venture. Raleigh’s efforts were obviously successful. His next expedition to America would start with no less than seven ships and 600 men, at least half of whom were soldiers. At sea they would be commanded by Sir Richard Grenville, an experienced naval officer. On land, they would be led by Ralph Lane, a military man whom Raleigh had appointed governor of his next colony.
Manteo and Wanchese, having met Raleigh’s publicity needs during their nine months in England, would return to America on that expedition, ready to report to their elders. But Manteo and Wanchese saw England through totally different eyes. Manteo saw people of power and status, wielding weapons vastly superior to those of his Algonquian peers. He saw a Great Queen who was protected by thousands of loyal subjects. He was attracted to and felt protected by the powerful English people.
In contrast to Manteo’s impressions, Wanchese saw poverty-stricken families living in squalor on London’s streets, ignored or abused by their own people of higher status. Such harsh treatment of commoners by the English nobility stood in marked contrast to the benevolence that Algonquian leaders showed for all their subjects, including the poor and the infirm.
Wanchese suspected the English had motives more sinister than just trading food and wares with his people. When Wanchese saw Raleigh’s seven ships being fitted with cannon and hundreds of English warriors boarding those ships with guns, he was sure that his suspicions had been realized. From then on, Wanchese never let down his guard in the presence of the English, and he forewarned all his friends accordingly.
Manteo, on the other hand, served the English faithfully as a valued guide and translator, probably for the rest of his life. Both Manteo and Wanchese filled pivotal roles during the next few years of England’s attempts to colonize America, which will be covered in the next installment or two of Chowan River Ramblings.
As I close this column, I ask you readers: Do you notice any similarities between the Indian Manteo and the Town of Manteo, both of whom seem to emulate the English? And likewise, do you see any similarities between the proud, unincorporated Village of Wanchese and the Indian Wanchese, a staunch and independent warrior who became suspicious of English authority and remained so for the rest of his life? I sure do.
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