' ' Old Beaufort by the Sea" 



A pinch of old, a dash of new 



Photo h\ Tabbie Nance 



Grayden Paul aboard double-decker tour bus 



The double-decker bus pulls away 

 from the curb, and 85-year-old 

 Grayden Paul begins his spiel. It's all 

 about how Beaufort's name used to be 

 Fishtown, changed to Hungry Town 

 after the Tuscarora Massacre, then to 

 Paradise, and finally settled on 

 Beaufort, after the Duke of Beaufort 

 in England. 



By this time, the English bus has 

 reached the Old Cemetery. Soldiers 

 from the Revolutionary and Civil 

 Wars are buried there, he's proud to 

 tell you. 



The tour continues. It's the same 

 lecture Paul has given for nearly 50 

 years to one group or another. 

 Sometimes his audiences are summer 

 tourists. Other times, it's a chartered 

 group that has called with a special re- 

 quest for a tour. Paul is always glad to 

 oblige. He is as much a part of 

 Beaufort history as the centuries-old 

 houses he describes. 



But as Paul winds his tour through 

 the historic streets, the visitor notices 

 a contrast. Across the road from 

 Beaufort's historic district, a 

 spanking-new building houses a collec- 

 tion of specialty shops and blocks the 

 view of Taylor's Creek and nearby 

 Carrot Island. Tourists stroll down a 

 freshly-planked boardwalk that 

 stretches for several blocks along the 

 city docks. Where they once would 

 have seen the rusty steel hulls of 

 menhaden vessels, tourists now gaze at 

 50-foot sailboats and yachts. 



For 276 years "Old Beaufort by the 

 Sea" was a fishing village. When it was 

 founded in 1709, it served as a haven 

 for whale fishermen. Centuries later, 

 the menhaden industry kept the town 

 thriving. 



In 1985, this waterfront village is a 

 mix of the quaint and the cosmopoli- 

 tan. The old and the new stand side by 

 side, integrated into what has become 

 one of the biggest successes in water- 

 front revitalization on the East Coast. 



The Beaufort that has emerged is at- 

 tracting new businesses, new residents 

 and an influx of tourists. Charles 

 McNeill, curator of the N.C. Maritime 

 Museum, has watched Beaufort's 



progress. He attributes the success of 

 the revitalization to the town's 

 geographic location. From here, it's a 

 quick hop to the Virgin Islands, or 

 sailors can go north through Pamlico 

 Sound and avoid the infamous 

 Graveyard of the Atlantic. 



That prime geographic location has 

 replaced the 80-some menhaden boats 

 that used to dock on the waterfront 

 with the masts of 150 to 200 sailboats. 

 They come in search of protected 

 anchorage and quick access to the sea 

 lanes. Within 10 minutes, a boat can 



be in the open sea, says McNeill. 



A logbook at the Maritime Museum 

 is testimony to the popularity of 

 Beaufort as a layover for boats. Sailors 

 passing through sign their names, iden- 

 tify their boats and state their destina- 

 tions. The list reads like scenes from an 

 exotic travelogue. Places like Quebec, 

 Canada; Stockholm, Sweden; Sydney, 

 Australia; Wimbledon, England. And 

 if that's not enough to impress you, 

 famous newsman Walter Cronkite 

 once anchored here, and Jacques 

 Continued on next page 



