I said in my last post that one week was too long for me to stay in one place without getting antsy. Well, two days was too short to stay in Beaufort. The city claims to have tied for Coolest Small Town in USA. Despite the oppressive heat, it was pretty cool. We stayed at Homer Smith’s Marina just a few blocks from the town center. Great spot. Not only do they have new floating docks, free washer and dryer, but they gave us a couple pounds of fresh, right off the boat delicious shrimp.
We took a tour of the town aboard an old London double-decker bus and learned about the town and its many historic homes, some dating back to before the Revolutionary War.
They have a very informative Maritime Museum that includes some artifacts from Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge. Blackbeard’s ship ran aground just off the Beaufort Inlet in 1718, shortly before Blackbeard himself met an untimely end and was beheaded. Arggg. The wreckage was discovered in 1996.
Maggie joined us in the afternoon for a stroll thru the Old Burying Ground, a historic cemetery that was established in 1724. Many of the headstones date from before the civil war and some of the dead are confederate soldiers. One of the graves is that of a young girl whose father wanted to take her to London. Her mother was against the trip, but conceded as long as the father promised to bring her back to Beaufort. Unfortunately the child died on the return trip. Instead of burial at sea, the father purchased a cask of rum and sealed his daughter’s body inside. The girl was buried still inside the barrel.
Our final days Beaufort found us catching up on chores including using that free washer and dryer. In between rainstorms, we got out to wander the town. I cant complain too much about the rain; they brought us a gorgeous sunset.
.
And now we are heading north again. We have 44 miles to get to New Bern. We’ll be there at least a week. Yes, I don’t like being in one spot for a week, but this time we’ll have friends with us. Kitty and Bill Chalfant will be joining us this afternoon and we will meet up with Peggy and Hans Bjarno who we met in Sarasota at the DeFever Rendezvous.
I cant end without a Maggie pic. Here’s today’s photo of my sweet, little pillow hog.