Raleigh was publicly criticized for his apparent indifference to the fate of the 1587 colony, most notably by Sir Francis Bacon.
 "It is the sinfullest thing in the world," Bacon wrote in 1597, "to forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness; for besides the dishonor, it is the guiltiness of blood of many commiserable persons."
The 1605 comedy Eastward Hoe features characters bound for Virginia, who are assured that the lost colonists have by that time intermarried with Native Americans to give rise to "a whole country of English".

United States historians largely overlooked or minimized the importance of the Roanoke settlements until 1834, when George Bancroft lionized the 1587 colonists in A History of the United States.
 Bancroft emphasized the nobility of Walter Raleigh, the treachery of Simon Fernandes, the threat of the Secotan, the courage of the colonists, and the uncanny tragedy of their loss.
 He was the first since John White to write about Virginia Dare, calling attention to her status as the first English child born on what would become US soil, and the pioneering spirit exhibited by her name.
 The account captivated the American public.
 As Andrew Lawler puts it, "The country was hungry for an origin story more enchanting than the spoiled fops of Jamestown or the straitlaced Puritans of Plymouth... Roanoke, with its knights and villains and its brave but outnumbered few facing an alien culture, provided all the elements for a national myth."

The first known use of the phrase "The Lost Colony" to describe the 1587 Roanoke settlement was by Eliza Lanesford Cushing in an 1837 historical romance, "Virginia Dare; or, the Lost Colony".
Cushing also appears to be the first to cast White's granddaughter being reared by Native Americans following the massacre of the other colonists, and to focus on her adventures as a beautiful young woman.
 In 1840, Cornelia Tuthill published a similar story, introducing the conceit of Virginia wearing the skin of a white doe.
An 1861 Raleigh Register serial by Mary Mason employs the premise of Virginia being magically transformed into a white doe.
The same concept was used more famously in The White Doe, a 1901 poem by Sallie Southall Cotten.

The popularity of the Lost Colony and Virginia Dare in the 19th and early 20th centuries coincided with American controversies about rising numbers of Catholic and non-British immigrants, as well as the treatment of African Americans and Native Americans.
 Both the colony and the adult Virginia character were embraced as symbols of white nationalism.
 Even when Virginia Dare was invoked in the name of women's suffrage in the 1920s, it was to persuade North Carolina legislators that granting white women the vote would assure white supremacy.
 By the 1930s this racist connotation apparently subsided, although the VDARE organization, founded in 1999, has been denounced for promoting white supremacists.

Celebrations of the Lost Colony, on Virginia Dare's birthday, have been organized on Roanoke Island since the 1880s.
 To expand the tourist attraction, Paul Green's play The Lost Colony opened in 1937, and remains in production today.
 President Franklin D. Roosevelt attended the play on August 18, 1937—Virginia Dare's 350th birthday.

Bereft of its full context, the colonists' sparse message of "CROATOAN" has taken on a paranormal quality in Harlan Ellison's 1975 short story "Croatoan", Stephen King's 1999 television miniseries Storm of the Century, and the 2005 television series Supernatural.
The 1994 graphic novel Batman-Spawn: War Devil states that "Croatoan" was the name of a powerful demon who, in the 20th century, attempts to sacrifice the entirety of Gotham City to Satan.
In the 2015 novel The Last American Vampire, the colonists are the victims of a vampire named Crowley; the inscription "CRO" was thus an incomplete attempt to implicate him.

The American Horror Story episode "Birth" relates a fictional legend in which the Lost Colonists mysteriously died, and their ghosts haunted the local Native Americans until a tribal elder ba
Raleigh was publicly criticized for his apparent indifference to the fate of the 1587 colony, most notably by Sir Francis Bacon.  "It is the sinfullest thing in the world," Bacon wrote in 1597, "to forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness; for besides the dishonor, it is the guiltiness of blood of many commiserable persons." The 1605 comedy Eastward Hoe features characters bound for Virginia, who are assured that the lost colonists have by that time intermarried with Native Americans to give rise to "a whole country of English".
United States historians largely overlooked or minimized the importance of the Roanoke settlements until 1834, when George Bancroft lionized the 1587 colonists in A History of the United States.  Bancroft emphasized the nobility of Walter Raleigh, the treachery of Simon Fernandes, the threat of the Secotan, the courage of the colonists, and the uncanny tragedy of their loss.  He was the first since John White to write about Virginia Dare, calling attention to her status as the first English child born on what would become US soil, and the pioneering spirit exhibited by her name.  The account captivated the American public.  As Andrew Lawler puts it, "The country was hungry for an origin story more enchanting than the spoiled fops of Jamestown or the straitlaced Puritans of Plymouth... Roanoke, with its knights and villains and its brave but outnumbered few facing an alien culture, provided all the elements for a national myth."
The first known use of the phrase "The Lost Colony" to describe the 1587 Roanoke settlement was by Eliza Lanesford Cushing in an 1837 historical romance, "Virginia Dare; or, the Lost Colony". Cushing also appears to be the first to cast White's granddaughter being reared by Native Americans following the massacre of the other colonists, and to focus on her adventures as a beautiful young woman.  In 1840, Cornelia Tuthill published a similar story, introducing the conceit of Virginia wearing the skin of a white doe. An 1861 Raleigh Register serial by Mary Mason employs the premise of Virginia being magically transformed into a white doe. The same concept was used more famously in The White Doe, a 1901 poem by Sallie Southall Cotten.
The popularity of the Lost Colony and Virginia Dare in the 19th and early 20th centuries coincided with American controversies about rising numbers of Catholic and non-British immigrants, as well as the treatment of African Americans and Native Americans.  Both the colony and the adult Virginia character were embraced as symbols of white nationalism.  Even when Virginia Dare was invoked in the name of women's suffrage in the 1920s, it was to persuade North Carolina legislators that granting white women the vote would assure white supremacy.  By the 1930s this racist connotation apparently subsided, although the VDARE organization, founded in 1999, has been denounced for promoting white supremacists.
Celebrations of the Lost Colony, on Virginia Dare's birthday, have been organized on Roanoke Island since the 1880s.  To expand the tourist attraction, Paul Green's play The Lost Colony opened in 1937, and remains in production today.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt attended the play on August 18, 1937—Virginia Dare's 350th birthday.
Bereft of its full context, the colonists' sparse message of "CROATOAN" has taken on a paranormal quality in Harlan Ellison's 1975 short story "Croatoan", Stephen King's 1999 television miniseries Storm of the Century, and the 2005 television series Supernatural. The 1994 graphic novel Batman-Spawn: War Devil states that "Croatoan" was the name of a powerful demon who, in the 20th century, attempts to sacrifice the entirety of Gotham City to Satan. In the 2015 novel The Last American Vampire, the colonists are the victims of a vampire named Crowley; the inscription "CRO" was thus an incomplete attempt to implicate him.
The American Horror Story episode "Birth" relates a fictional legend in which the Lost Colonists mysteriously died, and their ghosts haunted the local Native Americans until a tribal elder ba
Roanoke Colony