Romantically called Beaufort-by-the-Sea, the town has a captivating history that spans more than 300 years — from tales about the pirate Blackbeard to its use as a port in the 18th century for Spanish and French sailing ships.

Today, Beaufort attracts visitors from all over the world and has garnered many accolades from regional and national publications. Recently recognized as the “Best Small Town for Adventure” by USA Today, Beaufort has been named the “South’s Best Small Town” by Southern Living.

In North Carolina, Beaufort is pronounced Boh-fort, is a quaint little coastal town with huge charm. Being the third oldest city in NC, it’s a beautiful mix of old homes from the 1700’s to to beautiful Caribbean inspired beach houses. The town itself dates back much further, to 1709, and is filled with about 150 restored historical homes that make for a beautiful backdrop during strolls ashore. A 12-block section of the town is on the National Register of Historic Places.

We left Oriental about 9 am headed south for Beaufort. It’s only about a 4 to 4.5 hour trip. Entering the ICW section is Adams Creek, it started to lined with houses on both sides. You know you’re getting closer to area with higher population. Then it happened. We saw our first Confederate flag since the start of our trip, hanging high on one of the homes. It was quite disturbing for both of us. We’ve seen it on TV but have never eyewitnessed it. We tried not to let it dampen our spirit and continued our journey. We arrived in port at Homer Smith marina with beautiful facilities and free laundry. We quickly washed up and walked into town 3 blocks away.

Street names here reflect the early development of the town: Ann Street for Queen Anne; Craven Street for the Earl of Craven; Turner Street for Robert Turner, owner of the land that was surveyed for the town; Pollock Street for Gov. Thomas Pollock; and Orange Street for William, Prince of Orange, who became William III of England.

We strolled the waterfront boardwalk, stretches six blocks between Turner and Queen Streets. The sweet smells from the Fudge Factory mixed with the aroma of seafood platters at Dock House Restaurant made us hungry. We found whimsical shops, casual to world-class dining, and luxurious overnight accommodations. There are some amazing art galleries, clothing stores and antique shops. Claudia checked out Beaufort Mercantile with some beautiful artwork & crafts and we grab some ice cream on the boardwalk then enjoyed the scenery as life go by.

Next day was raining so we took advantage of the free loaner car and went out to breakfast for shrimp and grits and homemade biscuits then provisioned at the grocery store chain “Piggly Wiggly”, a store similar to our “Market Basket” back home.

Since Halloween is coming, we decided to take a very popular ghost tour. Our in-costume tour guide, dressed as Blackbeard , brought history to life as he told us an assortment of supernatural stories of ghost ships, haunted houses, the ghosts of the Civil War, and the history of the Beaufort area, including the legends of the infamous pirate Blackbeard! A great evening to end our visit to Beaufort.