Early Days of Beaufort

· Farnifold Green was the first to obtain the patent for the land now known as Beaufort

· Beaufort was named after Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort , an English Lord

· Street names have been the same since 1713. Turner St. - Robert Turner, an earlier proprietor of Beaufort

· Moore St. - Col. James Moore who was responsible for bringing an end to the Tuscarora War.

· Pollock St. - Thomas Pollock, acting governor of the colony of NC from 1712-1714

· Queen and Ann St. - Named after Queen Ann the reigning monarch at the time.

· Orange St. - William III of Orange who had reigned in England before Ann.

· Craven St. - William Lord Craven, another English Lord

· Early names for Beaufort were “Hungry Town”, “Fish Town” and the Corree Indian name of “Cwariok”

· Economy started slowly, with very little growth until the late 18th Century

· First jail in town was built by Daniel Reese on lot 7 in “Old Town”, which is where Queen St. is today. Jail can be seen at the Beaufort Historic Grounds.

· In 1722, Beaufort became both the port of entry and the courthouse town for Carteret precinct.

· Richard Rustull, John Shackleford, John Nelson, Joseph Bell, Christopher Gale were a group of town fathers who were the first Commissioners and among the vestrymen of St. John’s Parish in 1723.

· Shackleford Banks named after the Shackleford Family, John and Francis who were actively obtaining land patents in the early 1700's in the area.

· Surveyor named Richard Graves laid out the town in 1713. Robert Turner ordered the survey. He had bought the land from Green.

· Beaufort could be reached by boat only for hundreds of years, until the very early 20th century.

· Mail from Raleigh took 2-3 weeks to arrive, while mail to NYC or Boston would take no more than 3 days, making communication with major trade ports much better than with the capitol of the state.

· Roads in early Beaufort were made of oyster shells

· In 1770, a cedar post was erected at the corner of Front St. and Pollock St. to discern between “Old Town” and “New Town”