The North Carolina coast in the area of Beaufort and Morehead City runs essentially east-west. Beyond Morehead City the coast begins a very gradual turn to the south, while east of Beaufort the coast bends toward the south for a short distance until Cape Lookout is reached, and then continues in a northeasterly direction toward Cape Hatteras. Beaufort itself is situated on a fairly narrow neck of land between the North River to the east and the Newport River on the west, across which lies Morehead City.
As in many places this coast is comprised of narrow barrier islands separated from the mainland by shallow bodies of water here called sounds. Across from Morehead City and extending to the west for about 25 miles is the barrier island of Bogue Banks, separated from the mainland by Bogue Sound; Bogue Banks is home to the ocean front beach resorts of Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores and Emerald Isle among others. On the other hand, across from Beaufort and extending to the east for almost 10 miles is the barrier island of Shackleford Banks, separated from the mainland by Back Sound; in contrast to Bogue Banks, Shackleford Banks is undeveloped and home to yet another herd of wild horses. Between Shackleford Banks and Bogue Banks is Beaufort Inlet, the northern most of only three reliable all-weather inlets on the entire North Caroline Coast. (The other two are the mouth of the Cape Fear River and Masonboro Inlet near Wrightsville Beach.) Because of this inlet Beaufort is sometimes known as "The Gateway to the Caribbean" since many southbound boaters leave the coast through Beaufort Inlet for open ocean cruises directly to the Bahamas and onward into the Caribbean. (Many boaters follow the ICW to Beaufort before going off-shore through Beaufort Inlet; in this way they avoid going around Cape Hatteras and navigating through the infamous shoals that extend almost to the Gulf Stream.)
For travelers on land the main highway in the area is Highway 70. From Beaufort you can take this highway west across the Newport River into Morehead City, and then northwest for 35 miles to New Bern before it heads into the interior of North Carolina. To the east of Beaufort, Highway 70 curves somewhat to the north and then runs northeast through the neck of land that lies roughly between the lower Neuse River to the north and Core Sound on the southerly side. The communities along this section of the highway, which include Harkers Island (accessible by side road and bridge), Sealevel and Atlantic among others, are sometimes known collectively as "Downeast North Carolina." Eventually Highway 70 reaches land's end at Cedar Island where you can take a ferry across Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke Island.
We found this whole difficult-to-describe complex of land and water around Beaufort, with the islands and rivers and sounds, to be almost endlessly fascinating during our winter's stay, and we would often take car trips to explore places of particular interest. But mostly we explored the town of Beaufort itself, slowly and by foot.
The Carteret County Library
A Crape Myrtle Tree in Winter
The Old Burying Ground
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"What do you do with all your time?" "There's nothing going on in Beaufort during the winter; what do you do?" "How do you live?" "Aren't you bored with nothing to do?" On more than a few occasions we were asked these and similar questions, by friends from our previous lives, by people wandering the docks who would sometimes strike up conversations with us, by acquaintances we met through our friendship with Earl and Ann. And we found that it was not easy to explain in any reasonably concise way how our lives were so rich and full, and, though not without problems, so varied and satisfying and so endlessly interesting.It is true that the nature of Beaufort changed from that of the summer resort as winter set in. When we took up our residence in mid-November the southern boat migration was still in evidence though it was certainly different and diminished from that which we observed in mid-October. At that time, the marina filled up every night with large yachts including some in the megayacht category, more than a hundred feet in length and worth millions. And at that time there were still significant numbers of tourists who would walk the docks and generally enjoy the Beaufort waterfront. By mid-November there were not nearly as many boats coming into the marina at the end of the day, and these were generally much smaller, mainly sailboats, and their owners not nearly so affluent. There were also fewer visitors or tourists along Front Street and walking the docks. By mid-December the waterfront area of the town was, if not deserted, certainly very sparsely populated and in some senses, shut down. There were no more migrating boaters except for the rare straggler. Some restaurants, such as Harpoon Willie's and the Front Street Grill, had already closed for the winter season, while others, such as the Beaufort Grocery Company and the Finz Grill, posted signs that they would close in January. But we welcomed these changes; we especially rejoiced when the Beaufort House Restaurant and Bar closed because this establishment was near us on the dock and it played excessively loud music well into the nights on weekends. Enough good restaurants, particularly Clausen's and the Spouter Inn, remained open to satisfy our cravings. Furthermore the town became quieter and seemingly more private as winter wore on, though a number of special events still took place.
Onboard our boat we had our writing and reading, our talk and our music. I would spend some part of almost every morning writing in our office in the forward cabin, working on Lessons from Summer School, seeing portions of this project slowly, frequently painfully take form. Nancy would also devote some of her time to writing. She had already enjoyed considerable success in publishing short articles for the magazine, Motor Boating & Sailing, and she was working on longer pieces that she would eventually publish in Living Aboard and Coastal Cruising magazines. Within the first week of our residence in Beaufort we joined the Carteret County Library, which we found unusually well-stocked for a town of this size. Each of us always had one or more books on the go; we would read at odd times during the day and always some part of every night, and soft music from our tape player often filled the cabin. And we talked - of what we were trying to write, what we wanted to do to the boat to improve it, where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see, what books we were reading and how we felt about them. And frequently the cabin resonated with the sounds of our laughter.
During the afternoons we often took long walks throughout the town. We would visit the shops in the business district along Front Street and sometimes stop at the maritime museum or the library. We liked to walk along Ann Street and view the old stately homes and we enjoyed examining The Old Burying Ground located there. We especially liked the beauty and grace of the winter-time crape myrtle trees that lined this street. The eastern section of Front Street beyond Beaufort Docks was also frequently included in our walks. There was a good sidewalk here that took us along the shore of Taylor Creek, opposite stately homes that frequently had their own private docks. There was also a town dinghy dock provided for the convenience of the anchored boats. We especially delighted in the wildlife, not only the wild horses across the creek on Carrot Island, but also the pelicans and herons and ducks in the shallows, and the dolphins that frequently swam in the creek.
Just the business of living occupied a significant amount of time. Once a week we got our mail and there were always bills and other matters of business to tend to. And about once a week Nancy would fetch the dock cart from the storage area in the bridge, load it with laundry and roll it down the dock and across Front Street to the neighborhood laundromat. And there were always maintenance and upkeep chores: oil the heads, exercise the seacocks, run the engines, clean the bilge, wash the accumulated salt off the boat, service the car, dust and vacuum, adjust the lines and fenders. We spent considerable time grocery shopping, not only at the large supermarkets out on Highway 70, but also at smaller neighborhood specialty markets, especially the Ottis Seafood Market in Morehead City where we delighted in fresh shrimp, salty oysters, grouper, flounder, swordfish, tuna, etc. We made celebrations of our dinner-time meals, always eaten at our small salon table surrounded by the glowing teak of our cabin, with candlelight and wine and music, usually classical baroque or soft vocal jazz. Almost always we used more than two hours in the preparation and consumption of these wonderful meals during the dark winter evenings.
After dinner we would frequently take a walk through the marina and on the boardwalk along the waterfront. These walks are most memorable, especially those taken during the coldest and the darkest days in January when the docks and the town streets were essentially deserted and the vacant boats in their slips seemed to have a mysterious, waiting quality. We discovered that night herons would come into the marina after dark and perch on the moored boats, on their rails, in their rigging, even on their dock lines. These large hunch-shouldered birds would balance on their perches absolutely silent and motionless, watching with great intensity some patch of dark water, waiting to pounce. We made a game out of learning to spot them in the dim light of the docks. Some nights we counted more than twenty, yet we never saw one on the docks during daylight hours.
Aside from our routine activities there were also some special events. On December 4 there was the annual Beaufort Christmas Parade along Front Street, with marching bands, floats, old cars, fire engines, the works. An amazing number of people lined the street for this event. (My notes state that we were told there were over 10,000 spectators, but I still find this difficult to believe.) There was also a Christmas Boat Parade later in the month that began in Morehead City and ended with the decorated boats slowly cruising along the nighttime Beaufort waterfront. There were many spectators for this parade also. Our favorite holiday event was Coastal Carolina Christmas sponsored by the Beaufort Historical site. This special day included open houses at all the bed and breakfast establishments where we stuffed ourselves on cookies, cider and punch.
The Beaufort Christmas Parade
The Christmas Boat Parade
Our Cabin Decorated for Christmas
Atlantic Beach in Wintertime
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