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| Beaufort is North Carolina's third oldest community, established in 1709. It takes its name from Englishman Henry Somerset, the first Duke of Beaufort. The place was once known as Fish Town.
Carteret County was formed in 1722, carved from Craven County, and named in honor of Englishman Sir John Carteret, who became Earl of Granville and one of the Lord Proprietors of North Carolina.
Early products fish, tobacco, lumber and deer skins were exported to England. But the most significant commercial industry was rendering pines into tar, pitch, resin and turpentine, products that were much sought after by the shipbuilders in England, historians say. |
| Today, Morehead City is the largest town in the county. It was developed as a planned "railroad" town, the creative genius of John Motley Morehead, who served as Governor of North Carolina from 1841 to 1845. He envisioned "a great commercial city" - the New York City of the South - at the point of the Newport River and Beaufort Inlet. (Fortunately for all of us, that did not materialize.) The first lots were sold at public auction in 1857, and the Morehead City community celebrates its Sesquicentennial in 2007: "A bit of heaven since 1857." You may hear it pronounced jokingly as "Mooorehead City," which reflects the town's claim to fame as the home of the organization known as the Bald-Headed Men of America, which was founded in 1974.
On Bogue Banks, the first community to form in the 1880s was a fishing village named Salter Path. Owen Salter and Riley Salter were two of the originals. When the mullet ran close to shore, the fishermen would literally beat a path to the ocean in front of the Salter households. Hence, Salter Path.
When Alice Green Hoffman, a wealthy New Jerseyite, built an estate in present day Pine Knoll Shores, she sued the residents of Salter Path in 1923, because their cows were wandering onto her land. This led to the revelation that the families who had moved to Salter Path had established their residences without deeds to the land. The court ruled that the residents could stay but the cows had to go.
The western portion of Bogue Banks remained totally natural until 1951. When viewed from the air, it appeared as a "green gem in the middle of a sea of sparkling blue water" and was appropriately named Emerald Isle. The town was incorporated 50 years ago in 1957. Learn some Civil War history. Carteret County has multiple sites designated on the North Carolina Civil War Trails, and Fort Macon is the centerpiece. The five-sided garrison of brick and stone, which was built from 1826-1834, is one of the finest surviving examples of 19th century military architecture and fortification in the country. |
