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| First Map for Lords Proprietors - 1671 [i1] |
“We cannot say for sure just when the first English came
into the Albemarle to stay. A Virginian named Nathaniel Batts had a
house built for himself in 1654 on the neck of land between Roanoke
River and the mouth of Salmon Creek. Perhaps he was our first real
settler. Certainly, however, there were a number of families living
around the mouth of Chowan River by 1663. In that year King Charles II
granted to eight proprietors authority over an immense region south of
Virginia. Within a year the proprietors ordered the governor of Virginia
to appoint a governor and six-man advisory council ‘for Albemarle
river.’ The province of Carolina was born.
“The Albemarle sound country held attractions in those days only for the most adventurous or discontented of the colonists to the north. Good land was plentiful and cheap. But one would not want to try to live there unless he had a special knack for getting along with the Indians. He must know how to make or procure with his own hands practically all the necessities of life…
“The Albemarle sound country held attractions in those days only for the most adventurous or discontented of the colonists to the north. Good land was plentiful and cheap. But one would not want to try to live there unless he had a special knack for getting along with the Indians. He must know how to make or procure with his own hands practically all the necessities of life…
