Secotan [1]
Secotan
Secotan was a large village of Algonquian-speaking Indians that was encountered in July 1585 along both banks of the Pamlico River [2] by Sir Richard Grenville [3], an explorer sent by Sir Walter Raleigh [4]. The village was documented in a detailed watercolor drawing by John White [5] in 1585-86. Titled "Indian Village of Secotan [6]," the drawing depicts a well-ordered village with family units, storehouses, fields with growing crops, and individuals performing different tasks. In 1690, Bath [7], the first town of English settlers in North Carolina, was established in the vicinity of Secotan, which had been abandoned by the Indians.
References:
Paul Hulton and David B. Quinn, The American Drawings of John White, 1577-1590, vol. 1 (1964).
Quinn, The Roanoke Voyages, 1584-1590 (2 vols., 1955).
Douglas L. Rights, The American Indian in North Carolina (2nd ed., 1957)
1 January 2006 | Powell, William S.