Explore the world of Eleanor Dare during the last decade of her life.

The Temple of the Sun Goddess Amana and the Apalache elite village of Hontaowase were located in the Nacoochee Valley of Georgia. Eleanor lived with her husband, the leader of this province, while several other survivors of the Roanoke Colony lived in the adjacent village of Hontaowase with their Native American spouses.

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect and City Planner

Virtual Reality images & videos created with Artlantis Software

Archaeologist Robert Wauchope was hired by the Work Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939 to carry out an archaeological survey of the northern counties of the State of Georgia. He ended up spending most of the year in the Nacoochee Valley . . . describing it as the densest, largest concentration of Native American archaeological sites in North America. Wauchope was a native of Columbia, SC, but held a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University. In autumn of 1939, he also became the first anthropology professor, ever, at the University of Georgia.

Soon after he arrived in the Nacoochee Valley, farmers began bringing him very old, carved stone tablets that their ancestors had plowed up in fields along the Chattahoochee River in the 1800s. After cleaning off the moss, Wauchope realized that they were in Elizabethan English and were created by survivors of the Roanoke Colony.

Wauchope directed the local families to take their stone tablets to Brenau College in Gainesville, GA. Twenty-four stone tablets from the Nacoochee Valley were examined by former professors of Wachope’s from Harvard University. They were all determined to be authentic. Later, Wauchope unearthed four stone tablets in the Valley, which were also determined to be authentic.

One man directed Wauchope to a Royal tomb complex in a ravine, created by Dukes Creek. Here Wauchope discovered the tomb of Eleanor Dare and a daughter, who was born to her in the Nacoochee Valley. The birth and death dates of both persons were carved on a boulder inside the tomb. About 30 feet down the slope from the tomb opening, Wauchope found a stone burial marker carved with the Apalache-Creek writing system.

Over 3 million tourists a year pass an earthen and stone structure near the famous Nacoochee Mound. It has a house on top. Most passersby cannot determine if the structure is a large Indian Mound or a natural hill. Actually, it is a natural hill carved in the shape of an oval mound. You see it in the VR image above.

Robert Wauchope was also curious about this mound-shaped hill. He excavated a ditch along the base of the northern side. The ditch proved to a treasure trove of Native American and Colonial Period European artifacts. At two feet down, he found a Elizabethan stone tablet that said “Elyoner Dare heyr sithence 1593.” She lived on top of the temple mount.

• Another tablet along the periphery told travelers that the Englishmen were in the adjacent village of Hontaowase. The word in Eastern Creek and means “People who irrigate crops – descendants of.”

• He found a third tablet which notified any rescue party that Eleanor Dare had died and was buried in a tomb nearby.

• A fourth tablet announced that her daughter had died and was buried in the tomb with her mother.

Robert Wauchope’s detailed descriptions of his work in Georgia was published in 1966 by the Society for American Archaeology and entitled, Archaeological Survey of Northern Georgia. I bought the last copy from Amazon several years ago, but Sabino Books, Oro Valley, AZ, U.S.A. has used copies. If you are at all interested in this region, I advise you to buy the book now. There seem to be no more out there.

Orientation

I will be posting more images that are actually frames for a documentary video, as they are completed. I am very busy, so will not include much text. Below are satellite images that will orient you to the relationship of the Temple of Amana to other archaeological sites in the Nacoochee Valley.

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