Did John Lawson ever visit the Outer Banks?

You are probably thinking "Why should I care where some guy vacationed?" but that's not the story here.

John Lawson was born in England (probably) sometime around 1680 and was killed by Native Americans in 1711 as the purported first casualty in what would become "the Indian Wars" when eight tribes banded together to (unsuccessfully) drive out the Europeans who were irreparably altering native communities. 

John Lawson is remembered mainly because a journal he published.  A New Voyage to Carolina; Containing the Exact Description and Natural History of that Country: Together with the Present State thereof was originally published in London in 1709.  The journal described Lawson's 550-mile trek from Charleston (leaving 28 December 1700) upland and upstream to the Uwharrie Mountains in southcentral North Carolina and then east to English settlements on the banks of the Pamlico River near present-day Washington, NC (arriving 23 February 1701).  The state of North Carolina provides a map of Lawson's journey which is reproduced here.

Many writers, scholars, amateur historians, and other interested people have read and reread Lawson's New Voyage in no small part because, in the words of Douglas Rights, "Lawson is among the best of the early writers on the subject of the Indians". 

"OK," you think, "but why the Outer Banks?  Lawson's journey ended on the west side of Pamlico Sound!"  And, of course, you're correct.  There is nothing in his published journal which describes him visiting the sand islands comprising the Outer Banks.

However, Lawson is widely quoted for writing that "the Hatteras Indians... tell us that several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in a Book [read], as we do; the Truth of which is confirm'd by gray Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others."  (p. 69 of the 1967 edition of Lawson's Journal edited by Hugh Lefler).  This passage has been the basis of several claims and conjectures that the inhabitants of Roanoke Island's "Lost Colony" were never really lost... they just left and intermarried with the native people of the Outer Banks (for example, Marjorie Hudson's 2002 story about trying to unravel the mystery of the Lost Colony).

Did Lawson actually see and speak with these Hatteras Indians or is this passage just the retelling of stories which others had relayed to Lawson?  The answer to this question will influence whether we read Lawson's passage as a supporting evidence or merely conjecture regarding who the fate of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony.

I have heard local historians tell that Lawson landed on Hatteras Island while he was en route to Charleston, prior to beginning his famous journey.  And, as reported in his New Voyage, Lawson sailed from London to New York (a voyage of over two months), and then down the coast to Charleston (in 14 days).  Other writers contend that Lawson was relying on hearsay for this passage.  For example, one history of Hatteras Island says bluntly "Lawson never actually visited Hatteras Island".  Indeed, to my knowledge, there is no record of his vessel stopping in Hatteras on that trip.  Perhaps an extended study of the ship's logs can resolve this question.

Bibliography

• Hudson, Marjorie.  2002.  Searching for Virginia Dare: A Fool's Errand.  Coastal Carolina Press, Wilmington.
• Lawson, John.  1967.  A New Voyage to Carolina edited with an Introduction and Notes by Hugh Talmage Lefler.  University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.