Blackbeard's Favourite Haunt

Down Taylors Creek

Welcome to North Carolina

We entered Taylors Creek, and anchored off busy downtown Beaufort.  Beaufort is little more than a village but has a wealth of history, of which locals are extremely proud.  Beaufort is also very boatie friendly, supplying at least two public jetties no less (to tie up Bruce) and a very large dockside marina for transients.

Shackleford Pony on one of the Inner Banks Islands

Taylors Creek channel was narrow so Cap’n Considerate put out two anchors (Bahama-style – two anchors from the bow) to limit our encroachment.  We then relaxed, watching migratory Canada Geese and wild Shackleford ponies grazing over on Carrot Island, and prepared our list of things to do while we waited for BW to arrive.

Beaufort Town Docks

Of course that in itself is a bit of a story.  There are no airports in Beaufort, the nearest being 30 miles away.  Having missed his scheduled flight from New York (was it a great pub crawl or just tired from too much site-seeing?), further delays meant that it took him 3 flights, 2 days and a looong taxi ride before he caught up with us.  Our Cap’n was no longer considerate and relished his chance to “take the mickey”. 

In Beaufort, we took a double-decker bus tour (yes, that’s right – a 1960’s model) round town dodging tree branches and electrical wires sagging in the heat, with a guide dressed in period costume telling us tales tall and true about Beaufort’s seafaring past.  As always, it was an excellent introduction and gave us a good start point for further explorations.

Historical Homes

The Maritime Museum is well stocked and despite GS’s groans (too many model boats), it turned out to be very interesting.  An item of particular note was a life-saving capsule.  It was used in flying-fox fashion to rescue folks from coastal shipwrecks.  Although small, it held as many as 11 adults (lying down) in a sealed coffin-like container.  It would have been a terrifying ride as it bounced along crashing through heavy seas on its way to shore and safety. 

Up Hammock Lane, and up Beaufort’s only hill (or “hummock” at 12’ above sea level) sits a quaint cottage with a terrifying history.  It was once an Inn, residence of the one and only Blackbeard.  Aside from ghastly goings on in the house, even the trees at the front were not spared. 

Ancient Burial Grounds

They were often used for hangings (one of his more difficult wives apparently).  Given its past, the house is haunted big-time (human bones have been found in excavations) and had not been occupied until fairly recently.  Even then, owners only seem to stay a few years before moving away.

Look who we found....

We ended our days sampling a few local brews on the dock before eating dinner out.  Spouters Inn (as in whale spout) has the best seafood we’ve had so far in the US.  It tasted like seafood should…  We also tried soft-shell crab – a local favourite.  Yes, the shell is eaten (it’s soft, silly!).

Again we were sad to bid Beaufort and its lovely historic homes farewell, but Big Bill was getting closer (more or less) and we were still not yet at that magic 35 degrees and out of the hurricane zone.  I’m not sure that anyone’s told Bill that however…