The English colony on Roanoke Island (present-day North Carolina) was intended to be a permanent settlement for the over 100 men, women and children who had been recruited to build a new life there in 1587. The leader of the settlement was Governor John White who, shortly after arriving, headed back to England to re-up on supplies. His return back to Roanoke Island was delayed for three years due to war between England and Spain. Upon his eventual return in 1590, John White encountered not the bustling, nascent community he had left behind three years ago, but an entirely deserted settlement. Not a soul to be found. There were only two clues that hinted as to the whereabouts of what is today known as "The Lost Colony": the word "CROATOAN" carved onto a post of a wooden palisade, and the letters "CRO" carved onto a tree. Generally understood to indicate that the colonists had peacefully relocated to Croatoan, a town about 60 miles south, the entire circumstance of their fate remains shrouded in mystery, and the colonists were never seen nor heard from again.

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