Beaufort, NC

If you're looking for a place where time slows down, smiles come easy and the daily comings and goings are mixed in with bits of 18th century history, then you've found what you're looking for. Beaufort is a small, coastal town where locals remember when the air once carried the odiferous smell of Menhaden and money, but now you'll instead catch whiffs of sunblock-covered tourists, The Dock House's sweet and salty shrimp and grits and low tide on Taylor Creek.

I love exploring and playing tourist in the towns within a short drive of my home, and in all my exploring, Beaufort remains one of my favorites. Before I even get there, the drive alone puts me at peace. I turn off of busy Highway 70 and onto NC 101 and soon the four lane traffic and strip malls and fast food restaurants are replaced by a slow, two lane road lined with farms and long-forgotten cottages and a roadside speckled with coastal creeks and tall water grass. We cross the arched bridge of the intercoastal waterway and look down to spot shrimp trawlers and sailboats. At that point, I know we're close.

Beaufort, N.C. - there's just something about walking along the waterfront and spotting wild horses across the channel and million-dollar yachts at the dock parked next to well-worn sailboats and small, family-loved skiffs. Or exploring the Old Burying ground and leaving a gift for the girl in the rum barrel. Or sitting waterside at the Spouter Inn and ordering two or three desserts from their delectable dessert tray - homemade coconut cream pie anyone? Or putting your kayak into Taylor Creek and paddling away to empty beaches and family adventures.

On a sunny, heavy-air day in July, we decided we were overdue for the stress-relieving pace of Beaufort. Our first stop took us inside the Beaufort Welcome Center where we were warmly greeted by ladies dressed in colonial garb, down to the white aprons and mob caps.

We bought three tickets ($10 adults, $5 children) for the bright red double-decker bus tour that looks like it belongs in 1967 London instead of this idyllic southern town.



With our tour guide spewing historical tidbits mixed with witty wisecracks, we took off through the streets of Beaufort. What a great way to learn some of Beaufort's history and get a base for more in-depth exploring later on your own. Now doing this tour in the heat of July might not have been our best decision to date, but the driver was kind enough to stop in the shade when he could, letting us cool off under the wise, old branches of live oaks.



Still, once off that bus, we sped up our slow Beaufort gait and hustled to the shaved ice stand on the corner.


Still in need of some serious cooling off, we headed to one of my five-year-old daughter's favorite Beaufort haunts - the N.C. Maritime Museum. You don't have to re-read that, you had it right the first time - a MUSEUM! How many museums (children's museums don't count) would be a favorite for a five-year-old? This one is, and I'm pretty sure it's because of the scavenger hunt they hand to any kid who walks through the doors of this FREE museum (yep, you read that one right too).



Or maybe it's the pirate lore and the remnants of Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. There are cannons and cannonballs and money and the ship's bell and even parts of its toilet.... yep! You can also see some Blackbeard artifacts in the shape they're found in the shipwreck resting on the ocean's floor - they're still encased in their ocean growth.


Heat + walking + keeping up with a five-year-old = mama needs a sugar rush. And what better place than my favorite dessert stop - the Spouter Inn. This place has great lunch and dinner too, but it's my sweet tooth that keeps me coming back. We love to sit on the deck out back and relax to the view of the Rachel Carson Reserve across Taylor Creek. Peaceful scenery + scrumptious sweets means I found a sweet slice of heaven.


The coconut pie is my favorite - I grew up on an island full of coconut trees, so probably no big surprise there. And it takes me right back to the days of finding a screw driver and a hammer and spending an afternoon fighting with, opening and then savoring that sweet coconut taste. The strawberry cake was pretty amazing too. Moist and heavy but not overwhelmingly so - the perfect mix of sweetness, berries and cake.

With full bellies and renewed energy, it one time for one more stop. If you're someone who loves to find a quiet spot and a good book, someone who loves that "book smell" caught within the pages of an old read or if your someone in need of some literacy as you sit in the sand and listen to the gulls and waves, then stop by bright "little red wagon" selling library books that line the shelves no longer. We make the stop EVERY TIME we're in town.


My daughter always leaves with a book or five to read on the drive home. As an added bonus, the money made through this wagon run by the Friends of the Carteret County Library goes right back to helping fund the library and its programs.

There's a quote attributed to Ghandi that says, "There is more to life than increasing its speed." In the laid-back, scenic town of Beaufort where history greets you at almost every step, I get that. In Beaufort, I slow down enough to enjoy the views and  life's little moments.