Ten-year-old Robert Ellis could hardly believe it. It was July 1587. And finally Robert and his father were here: America! Back home in England, most people had only heard stories about this dazzling, unfamiliar land.

The journey by ship across the ocean from England had taken two miserable months. Rats nipped at people’s toes. Human waste sloshed around the bottom of the boat. If you dunked into the ocean for a bath, you might get bitten by a shark. (This had actually happened to someone.)

But when Robert stepped onshore that warm day in 1587, memories of the nightmarish trip melted away. Stretched out before him was a place of unimaginable beauty. Golden beaches sloped into glittering water. Thick forests hummed with the sound of frogs. This was Roanoke, a tiny island off the coast of what the English called Virginia. (Today, it’s part of North Carolina.)

Robert, his dad, and about 115 other people had come here for an important mission: to start a colony, a little piece of England in America. They would build a cozy village, set up farms, and gather treasures to send back home—furs, fruit, spices, maybe even gold.

But if Robert had known what would soon happen on Roanoke, he might have jumped right back on the ship and sailed home to England.

Within three years, he and the other colonists would vanish from the face of the Earth. 

For a kid like Robert living in 1587, traveling to America was almost as thrilling and terrifying as the idea of flying to the moon. Just 100 years earlier, people in Europe hadn’t known North and South America even existed. It wasn’t until the early 1500s that they found out: Amazing lands lay across the Atlantic Ocean.

Few could have imagined the wonders of the New World, as they called it. Tree after tree stretched as far as the eye could see. Giant mountains seemed to touch the clouds. Wildflowers bloomed in bright colors. And the animals! Buffalo and beavers and grizzly bears and salmon and so many flying geese that they blocked out the sun.

European countries like Spain, Portugal, France, and England were eager to seize the riches of this New World. Kings and queens sent explorers across the ocean: Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Ferdinand Magellan. Tales of their journeys spread across Europe.

By the time Robert was born, in the late 1500s, explorers weren’t the only ones visiting America. Ordinary Europeans had started moving there to form colonies. These settlers built new towns while collecting (and sometimes stealing) natural treasures. Spain had already grown rich off its many colonies, becoming the most powerful nation in the world. England decided to set up its own colony. 

At the time, London, England, was crowded and filthy. Like thousands of others, Robert and his dad, Thomas, probably lived in a tiny, cramped home. Only very wealthy people owned land and roomy, comfortable houses. And if you weren’t born rich, you had almost no chance of ever achieving those things.

But if you joined England’s colony, you could get at least 500 acres of land in America—an area 25 times the size of the queen’s palace! To Robert and his dad, that would have seemed like something out of a dream.

And so the Ellises and about 115 others signed on to join the English colony. All were thrilled at the chance to start a better life in the New World. 

Within a few weeks of arriving, Robert began hearing his dad and the other grown-ups whispering worriedly around the fire at night.

The settlers were in trouble. They hadn’t brought nearly enough food or supplies. And with few Algonquian allies in the area to trade with, they would barely be able to survive the winter. Robert’s dad and the other settlers begged the colony’s leader, John White, to return to England and bring back help.

At first, White refused. His daughter, Eleanor Dare, was one of the colonists. Eleanor had just given birth to a baby girl, Virginia—the first English child born in America. How could he leave his family behind?

Eventually, White gave in to the colonists’ pleading. But first, he made them promise: If they moved anywhere else, they would carve the name of the place into a tree or post so White could find them when he returned. And if they were in danger, they would add a carving of a cross.

Then, with a heavy heart, White boarded a ship back to Europe. 

And perhaps that is the key to the mystery. Today, many experts believe that the Roanoke colonists may have split up and been welcomed into different Algonquian tribes. We don’t know exactly what happened, but we can imagine.

Robert may have traded in his itchy woolen pants and stiff leather shoes for a soft deerskin wrap and moccasins. The Algonquian may have shown him how to aim a bow and arrow, helping him become a skilled hunter. They may have patiently taught him how to speak their language. Robert and the other colonists may have gone through these changes so quickly that there was soon almost no trace of their Englishness left—which might be why there are few clues for archaeologists to find today.

In other words, the Roanoke colonists might not have gone missing at all. Like generations of newcomers who moved to America after them, they may have survived thanks to the help and generosity of the people who already lived here.

We will never know for sure. But we do know what happened next. More and more Europeans arrived and laid claim to land that was not theirs. By 1733, there were 13 English colonies lined up along America’s east coast. About 50 years later, these 13 colonies would break away from England to become the United States.

As this new country was forming, Native peoples across America were forced from their homes and farms. Millions suffered starvation, disease, and violence. Within about 100 years of the Europeans’ arrival, as many as 90 percent of Native peoples in the Americas had died.

Many Algonquian peoples of the east coast were among them. But some survived to pass on their rich customs and traditions and stories. Today, the Algonquian are a major Native group in North America.

As for Robert and the Roanoke settlers? Their fate will likely remain a mystery forever.