Croatoan 1587: The Lost Colony Comfort Colors Tee

In 1587, 117 English men, women, and children crossed the Atlantic to establish a colony in the New World. Their journey brought them to Roanoke Island, along the coast of what would become North Carolina. When Governor John White sailed back to England for desperately needed supplies, no one could have known that nearly three years would pass before he returned.

When White finally reached Roanoke in 1590, the settlement was deserted. The colonists were gone.

But they had left behind a clue.

The letters CRO were carved into a tree, and the word CROATOAN had been carved into a wooden palisade. It wasn't a meaningless or ominous word. Croatoan was the name associated with an Indigenous people—and with the island where they lived, generally identified today as Hatteras Island. Manteo, a Croatoan man who had befriended the English settlers and served as an important intermediary between cultures, had strong ties to the colony.

Before White left for England, the colonists had agreed to leave a message if they moved. So when White saw CROATOAN, he believed they were telling him where they had gone. Even more intriguing, he found no evidence that the settlement had been abandoned in haste or destroyed in a violent attack.

White immediately tried to reach Croatoan—but rough seas and severe weather forced the expedition away. He never reached the island, and he never saw his family or the colonists again.

And that is where the mystery begins.

Did some or all of the settlers join the Croatoan people? Did others move inland or along Albemarle Sound? Were they eventually absorbed into Indigenous communities? Archaeological discoveries have kept several possibilities alive, but no single explanation has definitively accounted for the fate of the entire colony.

More than four centuries later, CROATOAN remains the most famous clue in one of North Carolina's enduring historical mysteries—a single carved word that may have been less a cry for help than a simple message, "This is where we went."

This design remembers the Lost Colony of Roanoke, the people of Croatoan, and a North Carolina story whose final chapter has never been completely written.

• 100% ring-spun cotton
• Fabric weight: 6.1 oz/yd² (206.8 g/m²)
• Garment-dyed
• Relaxed fit
• Unisex sizing
• 7/8″ double-needle topstitched collar
• Twill-taped neck and shoulders for extra durability
• Double-needle armhole, sleeve, and bottom hems
• Blank product sourced from Honduras

This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!

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