A Unique Coastal Village Preserved
Mary
Warshaw's 2nd Beaufort book, this 200-page volume focuses on 285 historic homes built
from the late 1770s to the early 1900s - 150 plaqued homes and 135
historic homes yet to be plaqued—all presented street-by-street, with
images and histories of the families who called them home. Also included
are historic sites and buildings.
Special pages
present an overview of Beaufort's history, as well as more research on the
Coree Indians, Taylor's Creek, Piver's Island, Gallant's Channel,
the Rachel Carson Reserve, and the Beaufort's bridges.
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Through
the study of deeds, family records and other sources, I was able to
discover more accurate dates for many of the historic homes, including
the Hammock House; four pages are dedicated to this discovery, concluding that the Hammock House was built in 1800 by Samuel
Leffers.
SEE EXCERPTS BELOW:
Preface
I always dreamed of moving to the coast to paint. And though I had never been to Beaufort, I was undeniably drawn to the quaint seaside village. Settling full-time into a duplex cottage at 207 Orange Street in 2001, I sensed the historic reality of Beaufort's charm.
Inspired by all the unique porches and fences, I began to paint, while exploring and expanding a sincere fascination with my new community. Yearning to know more about the homes and residents of yesteryear, I searched family records and house histories; this helped me capture the character and spirit of each dwelling.
While exploring other materials and sources, I found much I had not seen in the few local publications...MORE...
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Excerpt from the 8-page Introduction
After her first volume, PORCHSCAPES...for the past two years, with help from three dedicated friends, author and artist Mary Warshaw has laboriously combed old files to produce this new book, North Carolina's HISTORIC BEAUFORT...When Mary asked me to put on paper some of my recollections of growing up in Beaufort, I jumped at the opportunity!...In her new book, Mary provides all of us an accurate history; I will limit myself to telling just a bit of what it felt like to me at the time...
On October 9, 1913, my father, William Arendell Mace, married Maybelle Kaiser Carrow. My grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Cramer, who married Nathan Lafayette "Nat" Carrow in 1890, was born in 1857 to Dr. William Cramer and Mary Elizabeth Champlin. Born in Rhinebeck, Duchess County, New York, Great-Grandfather Cramer came to Beaufort about 1853 from Portsmouth Village where he had served the "Marine Hospital of Portsmouth."
In 1854, after many love letters "sailed" north to Mary Elizabeth Champlin, William Cramer, without mincing words, wrote of finding Beaufort a very pleasing coastal village "to raise a family." He immediately returned to Duchess County to make her his bride and made the arduous but exciting return to quiet little Beaufort, with which he had fallen in love. By way of a Conestoga covered wagon, Great-Grandmother Mary Elizabeth brought with her a prized possession, an early American childhood rocker to start housekeeping in the old 1796 courthouse, purchased for $325 and thereafter converted into a home. Dr. Cramer soon added an apothecary next to the house. Becoming involved in the community, in 1855 he was one of a dozen citizens who helped organize St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
After years away, Mary Elizabeth's rocker is now located on the Restoration Grounds where it belongs—there with the 1796 Courthouse and 1859 Apothecary.
I remember the old courthouse, on the northeast corner of Ann and Turner, as a home with storage shed, 3-seater outhouse and stables. I played around those buildings and loved hearing Mother describe the horse she had as a young lady.
My grandmother, "Nanny" Carrow, often walked me to the Seabreeze Theater and told me stories at her knee. In 1927, at seven years old, I witnessed Grandpa Nathan Lafayette Carrow laid out in a casket in his resplendent Confederate uniform...
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Excerpt from Tribute to Georgia W. Neal
by Francis Borden Mace
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| The tribute includes five sketches. |
"The first artist to recognize and sketch the stylistic importance of Beaufort's old homes and to self publish them in booklet form in 1937, along with an early short history of the town, was Georgia Washington Neal (1902-1968). A trail blazer for others to come, Miss Neal was a true daughter of Carteret County, one with an unusually observant eye for everything around her..."
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Excerpt from the Coree Indians
Cwareuuock, the reference to the Coree tribe on earliest maps (1590 De Bry and others), included the Algonquian ending -euuock, roughly translated ”people of" or "land of"—thus, the name referred to "Cwar" or Core territory. (Blair A. Rudes, UNC Charlotte, The First Description of an Iroquoian People)...
...The Core or Coree occupied a portion of the North Carolina coast, south of the Neuse River, from Craney (Harker's) Island west, including what is now Carteret and Onslow Counties.
...In his book, John Lawson referred to two villages, Coranine and Raruta. In Colonial Beaufort, historian Charles L. Paul wrote, "Before white settlers entered the area, the Coree had two villages. One of these was located on the north side of the Straits of Core Sound which separates Harker's Island from the mainland, a location not more than seven miles east of the present site of Beaufort or more than eight miles north of Cape Lookout." ...
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Excerpt from History of Beaufort
A town was born when an Act of the General Assembly officially granted permission for it to be laid out or established—thus founding and naming the town. Approved on October 2, 1713, Beaufort is North Carolina's 4th oldest town, behind 1705 Bath, 1710 New Bern and 1712 Edenton.
Robert Turner, then owner of the 780-acre land patent, hired Richard Graves to plot a 100-acre town, with 106 lots for sale. The dates, men and circumstances connected with the "Beaufort plan" were mentioned in all deeds issued for the years before Carteret became a precinct in 1722. As a part of Craven Precinct during those years, Beaufort deeds were recorded and archived at the New Bern Courthouse. (In 1739, all precincts became counties.)
Even after Beaufort was mapped on paper, one can only imagine how the uninhabited, undeveloped acreage appeared at the time. The seaside wilderness was likely thick with yaupon, chinkapin, cedar, live oak and native shrubs. Tidal flats and marsh grasses surrounded the area. The first paths were merely sandy clearings; lots were yet to be cleared. Topsail Inlet, barrier islands and the sea were visible from the waterfront...
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Excerpts from the
Histories of Taylor's Creek, Piver's Island, Gallant's Channel, Beaufort Bridges & Rachel Carson Reserve
...In 1726, John Galland received a patent for acreage in Core Sound signed by brother-in-law John Lovick. Part of Galland's acreage, north of Beaufort, became known as Galland's Point.
John Galland and sister Penelope were children of Penelope and John Galland. After the death of Galland Sr., in 1705 widow Penelope married Charles Eden, who became the governor of Colonial Carolina in 1713.
In 1727, John Galland became clerk of court for Carteret County; he continued in that position until 1729 and died in 1730. In 1731, Richard Rustull Sr. sold Old Town Lot 13 to widow Mary Galland for £3...
A Corp of Engineers project, begun in 1881, resulted in dredging Gallant's Channel in the early 1900s. Up until that time, a huge oyster rock, known as "Jones Rock," was "a source of food for subsistence in the 1890s" Over-harvesting and dredging gradually eliminated the oyster rock...
...In 1893 the citizens of Beaufort asked the federal government to
build a breakwater on Town Marsh to protect "Carrot Island Channel"
(then the name for what is now the western half of Taylor's Creek). The
request was denied, but in the early 1900s the U.S. Army Corp of
Engineers began dredging Taylor's Creek, using Town Marsh and Carrot
Island, to the east, as dredge material deposition areas...
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Excerpt from Craven Street
131 Craven Street
DILL-SNOWDEN HOUSE
circa 1895 – plaqued
About 1890, mariner Joseph P. Dill (1846-1895), son of Samuel Leffers Dill and Elizabeth Ann Roberson, married Jennie McRacken (1869-1942); they had one child, Sophia. Joseph purchased this lot in 1893 and died two years later. In 1906, widow Jennie married widower Benjamin J. Bell and lived at 306 Ann Street. In 1919, Jennie and Sophia sold the house to Macon and Helon Snowden. Macon St. Clair Snowden Sr. (1879-1935) and Helon Palmer McPherson (1891-1982), married in 1909, first lived with Helon's parents in Portsmouth, Virginia, where Macon captained a steam boat. MORE...
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Excerpt from North Ann Street and the Leecraft Family
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301 Ann built by Benjamin Leecraft III
305 & 307 Ann built by William Leecraft |
...The 1850 census found Benjamin Leecraft II 55 and wife Mary 50, in their Turner Street home with: William 19, Julia F. 16, Lafayette 12, Nathan Franklin 10, grandchildren Mary B. 5, and 2-year-old William Leecraft Arendell (surviving children of their daughter Zilphia, deceased)
When Benjamin
Leecraft II died intestate in 1852, he left behind a massive estate. In
addition to his property holdings, thousands of dollars in promissory
notes remained for his heirs
to collect when due. This gave heirs a cash flow surplus, especially
providing young William with adequate means to construct the two
elaborate homes on Ann Street. Mary's petition for dowry contained seven
pages detailing specifics as to the many properties owned by her
husband. The 1860 census recorded 60-year-old Mary on Turner Street with
Lafayette, Nathan Franklin, and grandchildren Mary and William
Arendell; Mary's personal estate valued at $10,000; that of children and
grandchildren totaled $37,000. The 1870 census found Mary and "seaman"
Nathan; real estate valued at $3800, personal estate at $500...
Ann Street includes the greatest number of historic homes
and sites.
North Ann Street includes 29 pages.
South Ann includes 19 pages.
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Excerpt from the 6-page account of
the Beaufort Restoration Grounds
1829 Jail
100-block Turner Street
The 1829 Beaufort Jail, originally on the northeast side of Courthouse Square, remained in use until 1954...built by Elijah Whitehurst at a cost of $2,800...the long porch which originally existed on the front of the building has since been removed. There was a trap door on the second floor, used for hanging. The 28-inch thick walls boast legends of ghosts and a single hanging in 1874. By 1976, the Beaufort Historical Association purchased the building and moved it to the Restoration Grounds...
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Excerpt from Front Street pages
Clawson's circa 1909
427 Front Street
In 1866, 28-year-old Swedish-born Charles Alfred Clawson Sr. came to Beaufort where he met and married Irish-born Mary Louise Donovan in 1868. The couple opened a general store on the south side of Front Street; they lived upstairs where Mary baked bread and pastries. In the early 1880s the Clawsons bought land on the north side of Front where they built a house and later a bakery on the front part of the lot with a small bake house with oven at rear...When his father's health was failing, Charles Jr. took over the bakery business...About 1908, he began building a new 2-story Classical Revival brick store on their property, replacing the bakery, just west his parents' front yard. About the same time, the bakery operation moved into a new 2-story brick building behind the new general store. According to Frank Clawson, "Charles Jr. moved into his new building in 1909—Clawson's Grocery and Bakery." ...
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1829 Jail
