Day 135 – May 19, 2022 – Hampstead, NC to Beaufort, NC – Homer Smith Docks & Marina

66.1 miles
7 hours 32. minutes (includes 1.5 hours waiting for bridge opening)
8.8 mph average speed
10-14 mph winds

We were making good time on our way to Beaufort and arrived at a bridge that needed to be opened for us 10 minutes before the next scheduled opening. We were told that the opening would not occur due to an emergency on the beach and ended up waiting about an hour and a half in 14 mph winds. Luckily, the wind was pushing us one way and the current was pushing us the other way but Kevin still had to work to keep us in the channel. We were also listening to the training shots being fired from nearby Camp Lejeune.

Beaufort is the third oldest town in North Carolina. There are about 150 beautifully restored homes which have plaques with the original owner’s names and year that they were built. In order to be approved for a plaque, the front facade of the home must be true to the original architecture but additions may be made that don’t affect the front view. The homes along the waterfront were absolutely stunning!

The Sloo Home on the right. See story below under the Old Burying Ground photo.

While walking along the downtown waterfront, we were fortunate to spot a couple of wild horses across the creek at the Rachel Carson Reserve.

We visited the NC Maritime Museum which had many wonderful exhibits including artifacts from Blackbeard’s flagship “Queen Anne’s Revenge” which ran aground in Beaufort in 1718.

There is a Watercraft Center where wooden boats are built and restored. The center of the building had been cleared out for an upcoming event so there were no boats in the process of being built but it was still a spectacular area.

We took a bus tour aboard a 1967 English double decker bus and then toured the Beaufort Historic Site which is a collection of six wonderfully restored buildings which depict the Coastal Carolina lifestyle of the 18th and 19th centuries including three homes depicting different levels of wealth, a courthouse, jail and apothecary.

Leffers Cottage, c.1778. Once home to Samuel Leffers, a schoolmaster, merchant and clerk of the court.

The Old Jail, c.1829 and in use until 1954. The jail is currently being restored but we were still able to tour the inside. The jailer and his family lived with the prisoners.

Ellen took the marina loaner car to the Piggly Wiggly for provisions.

The Old Burying Ground established in the early 1700’s. There was a family, The Sloo family, who came to Beaufort from England in the mid 1700’s and became very prosperous. The daughter had always longed to go back to England when her father traveled back there. The father finally gave in to his daughter’s pleas and the mother agreed under one condition – that he would bring their daughter back to Beaufort no matter what. Unfortunately, the daughter became sick on the voyage back to Beaufort and died. The custom for those who perished on a ship was for them to be buried at sea but the father could not break his promise to his wife of bringing their daughter back no matter what. He placed his daughter in a barrel of rum to preserve her and brought her home. She is buried here with the barrel of tum as her casket. Townspeople and visitors still leave toys and stuffed animals at her gravesite.

We had delicious dinner at Clawson’s 1905 Restaurant which was originally a grocery store from 1905 to 1934. The building was home to several shops before being renovated to a restaurant in 1977 and is filled with memorabilia from the grocery store.

The Beaufort Music Festival was across the bay from our marina and Ellen enjoyed sitting on the flybridge and listening to the music our last night in Beaufort.

Before we left for Oriental, we walked around the Olde Beaufort Farmer’s Market which is held every Saturday on the courthouse grounds.

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