Beaufort Historic District

Beaufort is a small coastal town in Carteret County, North Carolina, laid out in a compact grid beside a harbor opposite Beaufort Inlet. Settled in the early eighteenth century and surveyed by Richard Graves, it became a port of entry in 1722 and was incorporated in 1723. Its livelihood has long depended on fishing, shipbuilding, shipping, resort trade and marine research. The district covers about 900 acres of mostly one- and two-story frame houses, many with the steep-then-shallow gable roofs and full-width double porches that give the town its look. Front Street faces the water with a row of white houses, from coastal double-porch dwellings to Queen Anne cottages. Other features include St. Paul's Episcopal Church (1857), the 1907 Carteret County Courthouse, a late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial row, and the Old Burying Ground dating from about 1724. Few buildings are exceptional on their own, but the consistent scale and form of the whole town is the basis for its listing.