VIRGINIA BEACH-Like the Indians he studies, L. Douglas Waldorf is breaking camp, packing up his Indian artifacts, and moving his family to a new campsite May 1.

   Waldorf, director of the Skicoak Living Museum of the American Indian, is moving to Roanoke Island, N. C., where he plans to recreate a Roanoak Indian village that was visited by two English sea captains in 1584.  Waldorf's latest venture into Indian history will be Roanoak Island Historical Park.

   Waldorf has a special interest in the Roanoak Indians. "These Indians were kind, gracious, and gentle," he said, explaining that later English explorers antagonized the peaceful Roanoaks, and caused the Indians to become warlike in defense of their lands.

   To emphasize the graciousness of the early Roanoak Indians, Waldorf points to a passage in "The History of Virginia, New England, and The Summer Isles" by Capt. John Smith, which reads: "Whereat she, much greiving brought our supper, half boiling, pots and all, and sent diverse men and thirty women to sit all night on shore and sent us fine mats to cover us from the rain, doing all she could to persuade us to her house. Though there was no cause of doubt, we would not adventure; for on our safety depended the voyage: but a more kind loving people cannot be."

   The passgae is from a report by Capt. Philip Amidas' to Sir Walter Raleigh recounting the actions of the village chief's wife when Amidas and Capt. Arthur Barlow refused to spend the night at the village.

    Waldorf has been planning to relocate his Indian museum now at 4439 Southern Boulevard for two years, but only recently found a spot available on the northern end of Roanoke Island.  "I was looking for a new spot and a better one historically in the Tidewater area.  I wanted a place mentioned in white man's history," said Waldorf, whose mother is descended from the Susquehanock Indians.

   "This spot is interesting for its Indian relics, but not important so far as the contact period," Waldorf said of the eight-acre location of the present museum which he opened in September 1965.  Before he opened the museum, Waldorf worked for several local radio stations.

   Waldorf said he searched for a suitable location throughout the Chesapeake Bay area before he found some land on the north end of Roanoke Island where Captains Amidas and Barlow first made contact with the Roanoak Indians in a village headed by Granganameo, brother of the chief Weroance, or king, of the Roanoak tribe.

   This was the summer of 1584.  Waldorf described Amidas and Barlow as "gentlemen", who were met and fed with graciousness and friendliness by Granganameo's wife upon their arrival at the village.

   Waldorf plans to recreate Granganemeo's village, described by Amidas as consisting of "nine houses, builded with cedar, fortified round with sharpe trees, and the entrance like a turnpike."

   "At Roanoak Island, we're going to cover that period of time before the English colonization of the island," Waldorf said adding that from his research he believes about 100 people were living in the village, and that from six to 20 people shared a house.

   He said the two English captains, who were sailing for Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh under a Letters of Patent from Queen Elizabeth which gave Raleigh the right to explore and claim for England any "remote, heathen, and barbarous landes, Countries and territories not actually possessed of any Christian Prynce nor inhabited by Christian people," were received, fed, and made confortable as a matter of courtesy.

   Roanoak Island Historical Park will be located on a four-acre lot within a few hundred yards of Fort Raleigh National Park.

   "This is where English speaking American history really began," Waldorf said.

   The Indian village will be a recreation of the one Amidas and Barlow visited, although Waldorf's property may not be the exact location of the village, he said.  "The exact spot has not been really determined. These villages were moved about. No one has ever really been able to pinpoint the exact area where the village was in 1584," he said, adding that it definitely was somewhere on the northern end of the island.

   Building the Indian village will begin in the last week of March. Waldorf goes to the island twice a week to oversee the preliminary work of surveying and gathering building materials.

   "The Indians built their yehawkans, which means house, out of Atlantic white cedar, commonly called juniper, and covered them with thatched reed mats, tree bark and deerskins.  The coverings could be rolled up in the summer months to let in air and light," Waldorf explained.

   "Each yehawkan in the village will have a special exhibit of the life, arts and crafts of the ancient people," he said, adding that tour guides will meet visitors at the gate and tell them about the Roanoak tribe's liefstyle and the voyage of Amidas and Barlow.

   The Roanoak Indians were peaceful and gracious so visitors won't see any war bonnets, Waldorf said.  They did not have horses either.

   Waldorf plans to open Roanoak Island Historical Park May 29. Thereafter, the park will open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Easter through Thanksgiving, with evening hours until 9 p.m. during June, July, and August.

   The Waldorfs have not closed Skicoak Living Museum yet. They will still give tours to groups Monday through Friday by appointment between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, they give a tour to the public at 1 p.m., weather permitting. But on April 30, the Waldorfs will begin packing their Indian artifacts and household belongings for the move to Roanoke Island.

   For Waldorf and his wife, Olive, the move to North Carolina will be a homecoming.  They met while in high school in Elizabeth City.  The two oldest Waldorf children, Rod and Jean, attend the University of North Carolina. The Waldorfs' four other children, Debbie, Mary, Richard, and Peter, will help out in the village while not in school.

   The family is looking for a house near the park on the island.  The new house will probably be part office for Mrs. Waldorf, who is busy now typing a manuscript of a book her husband has just finished on the Roanoak Indians called "Adventure At Roanoak," a fictional story about the life of a 12-year old Indian boy named Manteo prior to contact with the English.  Manteo was an Indian born on the island of Croatoan. He and another Indian, Wanchese, were taken back to England with Amidas and Barlow. Waldorf is writing another book about the Roanoak tribe now.

   Waldorf will leave many friends behind.  For the past five years, he have been active in Boy Scout work, and has given lectures at many schools on the life styles of Indians from the whole Mid-Atlantic region.

   "In the beginning, we only intended to serve the needs of the elementary school children in the area.  We have attempted to expand the museum to meet the needs of the public as a whole, but there really wasn't enough room.  We were looking for a location that can better serve the needs of the public and at Roanoke we found one that is still within the reach of school age children on field trips," Waldorf said.

 

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