Few People Know The Iconic Virginia Dare Statue In North Carolina Was Actually Imported From Italy
By Carolyn Harmon|Published December 29, 2022
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Carolyn Harmon
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Under Brown Mountain Lights the Beast of Blandenboro wanders this magical land where lighthouses shine on kingdoms only accessible by ferries. A Lost Colony of legends and pirates revealed in historical sites and majestic mountains with views that make us weep. The home of handmade sculptures and scrumptious cuisine. North Carolina leaves this long-time writer and artist breathless with endless surprises, including the unlikely warmth a winter walk on the beach can bring.
Within the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site live the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island, managed by the Garden Club of North Carolina. It was created as a memorial to the first colonists and as an example of a period garden. When you visit the Elizabethan Gardens, it is best to keep quiet, consider, and appreciate the enchanting beauty. The intimate relationship is impactful and immediate, especially when viewing the life-sized, iconic Virginia Dare Statue imported from Rome. Dare’s story and sculpture share mysterious details that are alive and well today.
The Fort Raleigh National Historic Site preserves the location of Roanoke Colony or the Lost Colony, the first English settlement in the U.S. In 1587, 116 men and women signed up for the voyage to Roanoke Island and by 1590, no residents remained.
The colony was promoted by entrepreneurs led by Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh under the banner of Elizabeth I and broke down sometime between 1587 and 1590. This marker has been on the grounds since 1896 to honor the three Roanoke Voyages.
The sculptor Maria Louisa Lander was born in 1826 in Salem, Massachusetts, where in 1855 she opened her own studio and the same year opened one in Rome.
Taken by the eventful story surrounding Virginia Dare who was born at the colony on Aug. 18, 1587, Lander began a life-sized sculpture of what the first child born of English parents in the Americas might look like as an adult.
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After 14 months the statue was finished in 1860, made from a white marble pillar from the Carrara quarries, located on the northernmost tip of Tuscany.
Lander restored it and displayed the beautiful art in Boston where it was purchased for $5,000, and brought to the owner’s studio where it caught fire.
Lander ended up with her prized possession once again.
Upon her death in 1926, she willed it to the state of North Carolina.
It was housed in numerous places, and considered controversial it was passed from one caretaker to the next until it was finally sent to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Green.
As fate would have it, the Elizabethan Gardens were created on Roanoke Island in the early 1950s when Green gave the statue a much-deserved, magnificent home, one it was truly waiting for among the famous statuary from the Whitney Estate of Thomasville, Georgia.
In 1953, the Elizabethan Gardens received several museum-quality Italian statues that were gifts from the Whitney family estate.
The gorgeous sunken garden is worth the trip alone.
Visit this lovely garden and in addition to the iconic Virginia Dare Statue, surround yourself with beautiful statues, flowers, trees, and plants, including a rose bush donated by Queen Elizabeth II. Visit any time of year as each season brings a different perspective to this amazing space.
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