Preface

     My first two books, Porchscapes: The Colors of Beaufort, and Historic Beaufort, North Carolina: A Unique Coastal Village Preserved, focus on the town's historic homes and families.

   This new volume is my way of preserving many years of dedicated research, in order to give the reader an authentic overview of Beaufort's fascinating history. Along with significant events, residents, and actual documents, included in this volume are rare images, maps, articles, memories, letters, and excerpts from other historians—all to offer unique insight into Beaufort's past.  . . . COMPLETE PREFACE --Mary Warshaw

                                                                                                                   

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Excerpt from History of the North Carolina Maritime Museum

Hampton Museum on Turner

 

    The museum's roots lie deep in the history of the state's coastal development. What we know of its earliest incarnations is very sketchy indeed. The exhibits Joe Barbour and his family saw in 1917 were a collection of fish casts, bird skins, jars of preserved crustacea, and examples of old fishing tackle, that were assembled especially for the 1898 International Fisheries Exposition in Bergen, Norway, one of several international expositions in which the state participated between 1882 and 1893. After the expositions the state retained the exhibits and beginning about 1904, they could be seen in what was then the U.S. Fisheries Lab on Piver's Island. . . .

Excerpt from 1909-1910 St. Paul's School Catalog

     St. Paul's School is the direct result of a movement to establish in Beaufort a school that would afford the youth of the town and county an adequate opportunity for a broad school training—of hand and heart, as well as of head—that would enable them to realize the larger opportunities of life and to render more efficient service in the home and in the state.
    About a half-century ago the Rev. D.V. Van Antwerp came to Beaufort and began his efforts to reestablish a parish where old St. John's parish had flourished in colonial days. In connection with this work, he saw the need of a good school and forthwith gave of his energy freely to establish such a school. This was the beginning of St. Paul's Parish and St. Paul's School, and the present St. Paul's is but a restoration of the loving work of Mr. Van Antwerp, Mrs. James Chadwick Davis, Miss Elizabeth Robinson and others.
    In 1875, Mrs. Geffroy took up the work, continuing the life-work of her mother (Mrs. Sarah Pasteur Davis), and since that time a continuous effort has been alive to build up and improve the school and push the work forward. . . .

Excerpt from "Beaufort Established in 1713"

Original 1713 deed for lot #4 
from Robt. Turner to Tho. Roper

   In the Province of Carolina, a town was officially established when approved by legislative action, either by the Lords Proprietors or the General Assembly, thereby granting permission for the township to be named and laid out.
    For Beaufort, this approval came in the fall of 1713. Robert Turner, then land patent owner, hired Deputy-surveyor Richard Graves to plat the 100-acre town with 106 lots for sale.  . . . Before Carteret became a precinct in 1722, deeds stated that the town laid out by ye sd surveyor on the 2nd day of October 1713 and by ye permission of ye lords proprietors intended for a township by ye name of Beaufort.  . . .

Excerpt from "Bordens, Stantons, and the Quaker Colony"

 Quaker Colony ▪ Stanton and Borden settled on Harlowe and Core creeks.

Detail from 1798 North Carolina Survey ▪ Jonathan Price

     While Beaufort was still in its infancy, Rhode Island Quakers, William Borden and Henry Stanton, settled a few miles north of Beaufort, built shipyards, as well as sawmills, and employed shipwrights from their home state.
     After a unsuccessful attempt to produce duck cloth for sails, William Borden sailed to Beaufort about 1732 and settled his family on the west side of Harlowe Creek, where he built a shipyard and sawmill. He became active in public affairs and bought a great deal of property, including land on Bogue Banks.
     The first Quaker meeting in Carteret County was organized on August 1, 1733, at the home of William Borden on Harlowe Creek. Until a meeting house could be erected, subsequent meetings were held at the home of Henry Stanton, a minister of the Society of Friends. In 1736, Quakers from Rhode Island sent "60 pounds Rhoadisland money" toward the construction of the Core Sound Meeting House.  . . .
     The Old Quaker Cemetery, behind Tuttle's Grove Church, is also known as the Core Sound Meeting Burial Ground. Many graves are marked with ballast stones, cedar stakes, or brick mounds.  . . .

A few excerpts from "Memories of Beaufort in the Nineties" by Thomas Holmes Carrow

. . . I am by nature a reminiscent person, and I had often thought of writing my memories of Beaufort. In the latter part of 1946, I received a letter from my nephew, Paul S. Jones, enclosing an article on the 86th anniversary of Mrs. N.W. Taylor. My reply and the commentaries suggested by the article were expanded into these memoirs.  . . .

     In the '90s, the little white house at the foot of Ann Street, in which "Miss Mary" first saw the light of day, on high tide was situated at the water's edge. Early in that decade, or perhaps a little earlier, there was erected west of the Buckman home one of the first oyster factories in the world.  . . . 

    The article on "Ma" Taylor quotes Mr. Taylor as saying that some of the streets were "cow paths" in those days. This reminds me of an institution rather peculiar to Beaufort, the two-wheel, one-horse carts, which did all the drayage business in Beaufort until some time after the end of the last century, perhaps until after the first World War.  . . . I recall wood selling for fifty cents a load (1/4 cord) and being delivered in the carts for ten cents. We rarely used the word dime, shilling was more often used.  . . .

     One thing enjoyed in the nineties was superb—sailing in small boats on a high tide right out over Bird Shoal to the Inlet. The waves were big enough to gently waft a small boat about, but not yet dangerous. The security of shallow water made it doubly enjoyable to the timid.  . . .    

     Before the breakwater was laid, you got the impression and the "feel" of the sea without its ravages. The young folks of today may not realize that at high tide in storms we had a miniature surf right on the shore in front of Beaufort.  . . .
     One of my impressive memories is of how the young ladies of Beaufort, with bustles, accentuated by corsets laced tight, would walk out in the afternoon, holding their long skirts up to avoid dragging on the ground. There was a trick in doing it gracefully.  . . .
     Beaufort was "divided" into three parts, and the marriages were for the most part, made up of couples from the respective parts.  . . . (Carteret County News-Times 1948)

Excerpt from "Menhaden Boat Parkins Founders in Storm"

Parkins, from "Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing," Itney Chadwick Collection

Major Fishing Disaster Early Friday Morning, 18 Men Lose Their Lives     

The Beaufort News, Thursday, December 24, 1942       

     

      . . . Of the seven living men closest to the tragedy of last Friday morning, six were in Potter's Emergency Hospital until the first of this week.
    Herbert Davis, brother of Capt. Dave, talked to us about the disaster. Davis says he is 36 years old and has been fishing since he was 14, yet never has he been on such seas. "Dave," he said, "kept his head. The boys were hollering, but he told them to be quiet, that the Coast Guard would pick us up." About the men still missing, Davis says he thinks they must be caught beneath the sunken purse boat, and will be found when it is raised.  . . .
    Asked to tell his version of the fatal night, Davis said, "We had a big set of fish two or three miles off Ft. Macon, and it took a right good time to get them because there were so many. We asked Captain Dawson of the Brewster to help. He came with his crew and lent a hand. They left before we got into trouble, but four of their men stayed with us. It was breezing, but not so rough when we finished, but when we got underway and started, the sea came up faster all the time. We would have made it through if she had not sprung a leak, and the pumps couldn't keep her afloat. We knew she was gone unless we could get the water out. We had men go with buckets, but we could not get it out.  . . .

Excerpt from "Gold in Blue Waters off Carteret County"

Fish Meal Company, or "Smith's"

From The Beaufort News, 
June 22, 1944:

     Mr. Harvey Smith is the son-manager of the Beaufort factory which is but one of nine owned and operated by Mr. J. Howard Smith of Port Monmouth, N.J., where the parent plant—the largest of its kind in the world—is located. This plant is 87 years old, but Mr. Smith has owned and operated it but 40—long enough to raise his boys in the menhaden tradition so that all of his plants are now managed by himself and his three sons.
    The Beaufort plant "under our nose" is the one of chief interest to us. It's supposed to be one of the smaller ones but at that is the largest in North Carolina and has a group of buildings covering two-and-a-half acres, the largest of which is the 100x250 foot warehouse in which tracks of the Smith spur of the Beaufort & Morehead Railroad run; the most striking of which is the lovely brick and clapboard Smith home against the background of grey factory buildings; and the best known of which is the modern dining hall which from time to time takes on a Country Club aspect when it is thrown open for dancing to visiting members of the Masonic Order, for other celebrations, or when Mrs. Smith wishes to entertain a very large group of friends for luncheon. Mr. Smith bought the plant in 1927, but it was an old plant that had been operated by the Levering Brothers of Baltimore. The Fish Meal Company, known locally as Smith's, operates from 10 to 18 boats during the season (Nov. to Feb. 1)  .  .  .

Excerpts from "Founding of Beaufort Historical Association"

      The founding date of the Beaufort Historical Association, Inc. was January 25, 1960, according to the incorporation certificate on file in the County Register of Deeds office. The incorporators were Paul S. Jones, C. Odell Merrill, W. Roy Hamilton, Grayden M. Paul, and Myrtle Duncan, who by a later marriage became Myrtle Duncan Sutton. The certificate of incorporation was filed with Thad Eure, secretary of state, Raleigh, February 4, 1960. Odell Merrill was named head of the association.  . . .

     In 1961, a contract was signed with Grayden Paul, concerning his operation of Alphonso, which he had converted into a "Museum of the Sea." In December of 1963, a decision was made to mount a major fund-raising drive for "The Beaufort Restoration." . . .
    A brochure noted, The Beaufort Restoration is a plan to set up, near the downtown area of Beaufort, a group of old Beaufort houses and shops. It will recreate a portion of the town as it would have appeared to the seafaring men of the 1700s as they sailed through Old Beaufort Inlet. The area which has been selected includes the center of Old Town, originally the site of the market place and the stage coach stop from New Bern. . . .

Excerpt from "Beaufort Historic District"

From the 1974 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places:

. . . The townscape of Beaufort is a straightforward expression of its history: since the early eighteenth century Beaufort has been a small, unpretentious, and rather isolated maritime village, depending upon the sea for its livelihood from fishing, shipbuilding, shipping, resort trade, and marine research. The most striking element of the sea-oriented town is its waterfront with its impressive rows of houses, its wharves and boats.  . . . Fortunately avoiding rapid growth or decay as well as the twentieth-century temptation of quaintness, Beaufort has a picturesqueness made the more valuable by its honest simplicity. The town is a unique and important part of the history and architectural character of America's eastern seaboard.  . . .