What's in a Name? | Manteo on the Outer Banks

Before Jamestown, there was Roanoke on North Carolina's Outer Banks, the storied "Lost Colony" of 117 English men, women and children who sailed for the New World in 1587.

The settlement failed, although we don't know why or how. The colonists' governor, John White, left Roanoke Island to fetch supplies from England but could not return for three years.

By then, the colonists had vanished.

The 4-century-old mystery inspired one of the nation's oldest outdoor dramas, relived on the Outer Banks each summer.

"The Lost Colony" production will celebrate its 75th anniversary season at Roanoke Island's Waterside Theatre in 2012.

An integral figure in the play is Manteo, a Croatan Indian who befriends the colonists, travels to England and meets its queen. The audience learns of Manteo's death near the play's end, as the forlorn colonists grow despondent without word from their governor.

The loss of the friendly Indian - their link to the new land and its natives - would have been a devastating blow, said Lebame Houston, an author and historian who calls the town of Manteo home.

But no one knows for certain what became of him.

"He was alive and well when John White left the 1587 colony," Houston said.

That was the last history ever saw of Manteo.

"What we do know about Manteo is really meager," she said. "We've certainly imagined a lot more."

He was a well-respected, high-ranking member of his tribe, Houston said, although there is no evidence he was a chief.

Manteo traveled to England in 1584 and again in 1586 - that much is certain.

Sir Walter Raleigh, the man who pioneered the Roanoke voyages but never went himself, used the visits "to publicize his success in the New World," Houston said. He paraded Manteo and another Native American, Wanchese, around London in Elizabethan garb cut from brown taffeta, she said.

Manteo helped the English communicate with other Indians and even accompanied White on what was supposed to be an attack on a neighboring Indian tribe. When White mistakenly attacked Manteo's people, Manteo remained an ally, Houston said.

"Basically, we see Manteo as an individual keen to help the English," Houston said.

The English, in turn, rewarded him in 1587 with the title of Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonqueponke.

Manteo's friendship was never forgotten.

Nearly 300 years would pass before the area known today as Manteo was settled.

When it was incorporated in 1899, the villagers named it for him.