Finding Croatoan follows the story of Scott Dawson, a native of Hatteras Island in North Carolina, a man of Croatoan heritage that is searching for the evidence that will prove the whereabouts of the infamous "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island.  

As a child, Scott was enamored with the local lore and breadth of historical significance the "Outer Banks" of NC possessed.  He would spend his days digging in the dirt unearthing countless pieces of Nativa American pottery and other artifacts.  This love of history and amateur archaeology continued into adulthood and in 2007, he even discovered a Civil War fort on Roanoke Island.  But what really hooked his attention was the tale of the "Lost Colony," an American history mystery that took place right in his backyard - just 400 years earlier. 

Not many kids, or adults for that matter, spend their days analyzing 16th century primary source documents.  But what Scott Dawson found in his research was nothing of mystery.  To him it was simple.  "If you were back in the '90s and didn't have cell phones, and your wife told you to just leave a note where you decide to go for dinner, and when she gets home and sees a note saying "McDonalds," she's not gonna get in the car and head to Burger King."   So he followed the note the colonists left and started searching around Croatoan, now modern day Hatteras.

It didn't take long for him to gain the attention of professor from England's University of Bristol. Dr. Mark Horton and a gratduate student took the trip across the pond in 2009 and, impressed with their initial findings, brought a team bag to dig in 2011 (and every year since).   Working alongside Dawson's Croatoan Archaeological Society, the University of Bristol team has been covered by major publications like National Geographic, History Channel, Travel Channel, and more.   Because they haven't published their findings yet (which are SIGNIFICANT... I've seen them), most people don't know about what CAS has accomplished.   But now, they are ready to share it with the world.

I followed Scott Dawson after I read his book Croatoan: Birthplace of America.  It sits upon a shelf of eastern North Carolina-themed books in my house (about the Lifesaving Service, Blackbeard, ghost stories, and - guess what? - The Lost Colony).   I found Scott and CAS on Facebook and we became social media friends.  It's my job to reach out to interesting people, so we quickly struck up a conversation and I could tell his passion for history and truth matched mine for storytelling.  

As a producer on the Lost Colony episode of Travel Channel's Expedition Unknown,  I knew our story would  n't be complete without Scott.  Host Josh Gates saw the importance as well and the episode ended with Dawson and CAS - a sign that the "expedition" had no place to go from there and they had found the closest version of truth.  During the making of the episode, Scott and I became closer and talked about the potential of telling this story without the restraints of a network - just brutal honesty.   Now we are doing just that.

CAS has given me full, exclusive access to their biggest dig to date this April and I want to bring you along for the journey!  We will show what goes into a project of this magnitude -- good AND bad -- as well as the super-cool findings that might prove the whereabouts of The Lost Colony, once and for all!