We spent 3 nights in Beaufort, NC. The winds were 40 mph on Saturday so it was a good idea to be at a secure harbor! This was a great place to spend 3 days! The visitors center hosted home tours and double decker bus tours of the town. The North Carolina Maritime Museum was free and quite awesome! Mike is pictured below with a wooden boat built by the Maritime Boat School, we have 3 raffle tickets on it!! Beaufort’s history is extensive, originally inhabited by the Core Indians, then French Hugeness, then settled by the British in 1709. Beaufort was an active seaport, inhabited by sailors, pirates, privateers, fisherman, soldiers, and planters. It was described as a diverse community with the common thread of the sea!
My friend Laura and I went on the historical homes tour. It was really enjoyable. The house pictured below on the right was built in 1709, legend has it that the most famous guest at the home was “Blackbeard”. He was believed to have stayed here when he was in port. He was a ruthless pirate and rumor has it that he captured a wife and brought her to this home. When she did not cooperate with his desires he took her outside and hung her. Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, ran aground near Beaufort and we did see some of the artifacts from the ship at the maritime museum.
The old burying grounds shown below was established 1709. The city had a self guided tour of the cemetery even available as a phone app. It is interesting to hear stories about the inhabitants. One grave was covered with toys. In the 1700’s a ships captain fulfilled the wish of his daughter who was 9-10 years old. She wanted to go to England. He took her to England on one of his crossings, they had a great trip. She became ill and died on the return journey. The Captain, knowing he could not bury her at sea and needed to bring her home to her mother, bought a keg of rum and preserved her in the rum barrel. She is buried in the rum barrel. Children often put toys on her grave.
Another grave story was about a young woman who married a seaman. He went to sea and did not return. She married another man and they had a family. The first husband had been shipwrecked and survived. He finally returned to find his bride married with children. He agreed to let the new spouse have her in life and she would be buried by him to have her in death.
The historic home tour included Leffers Cottage, 1778, this gentleman was the schoolmaster. Letters that Mr. Leffers wrote are available on the internet if you are interested in colonial life. We toured the John Manson house, 1825 seen below. Shirley was our tour guide, she was quite nimble and took us to the attics and upper levels of the 4 homes event though they were “closed”. Laura and I went for a beer and a margarita after our big day of touring!
Mike and I took a ferry to Shackleford Banks island. This is a pristine island famous for shelling beaches and for the wild Banker horses that roam the uninhabited island, this is one of the few places in the eastern US where wild horses can still be seen. The horses have been on the island for over 500 years, it is believed that the horses were let off of Spanish ships they may have run aground. DNA testing has shown that they are definitely Spanish horses. The herd of 130 horses have broken up into small harems. We did walk several miles on the island and did see about 10 of the horses. The horses dig with their hoofs about 2 feet to reach the water table for fresh water.
The Kady Krogan Manatee pictured was the first boat that Mike wanted to buy to do the loop! We met the previous owners at Kentucky Lake. It is a wonderful cruising boat with lots of living space. The new owners, Keith and Sara were very nice and we spent some time with them.
Below: We met some previous loopers Barb and Greg Franklin. They live in the Chesapeake Bay and had lots of great advice for us. We enjoyed dinner with them, Chris and Laura 2 evenings and Greg made all of a perfect pitcher of Pina Coladas!! We will see them again in Maryland.
Docked in the slip next to us was a 50 foot racing sailboat. The owner, Ronnie was prepping the boat for the Solo Global World Race which starts in October 2023 in Spain. We will follow the race on line and wish him safety and luck! His boat is named “Sparrow”.