10/17/07

  Beaufort-The Town

 

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Beaufort, NC ~ A BRIEF HISTORY

Settlers came to this part of the North Carolina coast in the early 1700's.  Along with a very moderate climate, they found an abundance of seafood, timber, wild game, and fresh water.  The inlets, sounds, and barrier islands were also a safe place to anchor and offered protection from frequent coastal storms.

In 1709, settlers established an outpost on the southern end of the Outer Banks that had once been a small Coree Indian fishing village.  The Hatteras and the Neuse Indians who were also found in the area.  A relationship that may have begun on friendly enough terms soon found the Indians in competition for land and hunting grounds.

As the English forced pirates out of the Bahamas, they gradually came north.  The sounds and bays of the North Carolina coast, especially Cape Lookout bight, were not only perfect hiding places, but also convenient for restocking their ships with needed provisions.  They looted passing ships and pillaged settlements.  Legend tells us that Blackbeard often stayed in the Hammock House, then noted on maps as the "White House."

Robert Turner held the land grant on which the town would be laid out.  The streets were named just as they remain today.  He called the town Beaufort after his friend, Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort and began selling lots.  He did not have great success in his promotion of Beaufort and relinquished his some 780 acres to Richard Rustull.  The lots were sold for thirty shillings each—twenty  shillings paid to Richard Rustull, and the other ten shillings went to purchasing great guns to fortify the town.

In 1722 shipping to North Carolina had reached a point that the lords' proprietors appointed Beaufort as a port with a customs office.  A year later the town was incorporated when the colonial legislature of North Carolina voted to establish a “Port of Beaufort” by its Act of 1723.

The town grew sluggishly, but eventually more people were attracted to the area.  Settlers began building self-sustaining plantations along the sounds and banks of the small rivers, but built town homes in Beaufort as bases for conducting their shipping and trading businesses.

Beaufort took an active part in the American Revolution.  The harbor was busy with ships carrying needed supplies.  Patriots built salt works to supply the colonies with the salt that had been previously imported.

The British sailed into Beaufort in 1782.  Unable to get supplies and discouraged by the opposition that they met, they made their stay short and moved on to Charlestowne, South Carolina.

After the Revolution Beaufort experienced a real period of growth.  Most of the people in the area made their living building ships, fishing, farming, manufacturing salt, processing forest by-products, and shipping these  products to other areas.  The building of Clubfoot Canal between the  Neuse and the Newport Rivers, and the later completion of The Core Creek Canal, made it easier to ship these products inland.

During the War of 1812 the people of the area were anticipating an invasion by the British.  When a British armed schooner was seen off the coast of Beaufort, Captain Otway Burns, a privateer from Beaufort, sailed for Beaufort on the Snap Dragon.  Militiamen from Beaufort and surrounding counties went to New Bern in droves, supplying support and ammunition.  They were ironically well prepared for an invasion that never took place.  Captain Otway Burns' grave in Beaufort's Old Burial Ground is topped with a cannon from his ship.

During the Civil War, many residents watched the skirmish at Fort Macon, either from the shore or from their porches, as the Federal troops captured Fort Macon and invaded Beaufort.  General Ambrose Burnside ordered a military government to be established.  Rooming houses and many homes were used from everything from housing troops to hospitals and infirmaries.  Federal troops remained in Beaufort throughout the war and for 12 years afterward.

During that time it was discovered that the waters surrounding Beaufort were teeming with menhaden.  An important industry developed for processing these fish commercially for oils and fertilizers.  The factories became a Beaufort trademark and a big source of income for the town.

A railroad connection between Morehead City and Beaufort was completed in 1908.  In the beginning, with no depot or way to turn a train around, trains actually had to back into Beaufort.  It wasn't until 1926 that the first highway bridge was completed connecting the two towns.

Although Beaufort was affected directly by and took part in our country's major events over the centuries, it remained very isolated for most of its history.  The interior of North Carolina was especially remote as the only means of maintaining contact was by boat.  In the end this isolation has proven beneficial in maintaining the historic appearance of the town.  The people of Beaufort today remain thankful that this little village by-the-sea has remained small, quaint, and unspoiled.