Three-quarters of a century before Jamestown was established in 1607 as England's first permanent settlement in America, Giovanni de Verrazzano, the Italian navigator, patrolled the shores of the region later to be called North Carolina. For all the friendly natives that Verrazzano met, with their "blacke and great eyes, with a cheerefull and steady looke," he found no good harbor and was thus unable to do much exploring.

It was not until sixty years later, in 1584, that Sir Walter Raleigh, by permission of Queen Elizabeth of England, sent two small ships across the Atlantic to set up "little pieces of England" in this region. Entering Pamlico Sound, the explorers landed on Roanoke Island where they met natives equally as hospitable as those Verrazzano had encountered. The explorers returned to England with glorious tales that filled Raleigh with such delight and hope that, early in 1585, he sent one hundred men to found a colony.

The North Carolina Colony is the gripping story of these men and the settler who followed them. Several unsuccessful attempts to colonize Roanoke Island were made (all these with Raleigh in charge from England—he never saw the new land himself). Eventually, though, a foothold was gained and, despite the fact that the Crown neither provided for their material needs nor supplied necessary protection, these men, women, and children built a strong and lasting settlement that was to become an integral building block in the foundation of a new country.

William S. Powell related the drama of these pioneers in a concise style that holds the interest of today's young readers.

From the dust jacket