Roanoke. The enduring power of “Croatoan” carved into a tree and the mystery of vanished settlers. Steven Rinella takes on this historical enigma in this week’s Hunting History. He is going into the swamps and thickets, applying his wilderness survival knowledge to understand the challenges faced by those early colonists.
Look, I’m a sucker for a good historical puzzle. Rinella, with his blend of history and roughing-it expertise, makes the academic stuff relatable. Sure, he’ll probably track some animal prints or identify some edible plants along the way, but, ultimately, viewers expect to learn something about Roanoke’s survival strategy. I know I do.
Rinella is working with historians and wilderness experts, so we’re getting multiple perspectives, which is useful. The episode will cover interactions between the colonists and their environment, because that’s kind of Rinella’s thing. At the end, we might actually get some new perspective on what happened to those settlers. Or, more likely, we’ll end up with more questions than answers. Either way, it’ll be a far more interesting history lesson than I ever got in school.
Hunting History with Steven Rinella airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on History.
