Beaufort Part 2

On my last day in Beaufort County, after a walk on the beach at Hunting Island, I strolled again through the streets of historic Beaufort, this time a bit more inland, in the historic district.

Rev Ledbetter House – 411 Bayard – early 1800s. It’s an example of a Beaufort style house

Old Presbyterian Church – 602 Cateret – c1900. No longer a church, it was a library for African Americans from 1932 to 1965, then the Art Department of USC Beaufort.
The Castle – 411 Craven – c1859 started. AKA The Castle. Built for Dr. J.F. Johnson. They moved in 1861 while it was still incomplete. IT was the last house built before Union occupation. Federal troops used it as their quarters and as a military hospital. The kitchen, an outbuilding, was used as a morgue.
412 East St – Henry Farmer House – c1810. Overlooks the Beaufort River.
J Rhett House – 303 Federal – 1884 – 1886. James Rhett was 23 when he started his house.

409 Federal St
Tidalholm – 1 Laurens – c1856. Aka The Edgar Fripp House or the house in the movies ‘The Big Chill’ and ‘The Great Santini.’
Berners Barnwell Sams House No. 2 – 201 Laurens 1852. He also lived on New St.
Grace AME Chapel – 502 Charles
Beaufort Baptist Church – 600 Charles – 1844.

How to Get There:
Beaufort is located on US21. From I95, take exit 33, and head east on US17. This joins US21, which goes to and through Beaufort.

Links:
http://www.beaufortsc.org/

What’s Close By:
Hunting Island State Park
Cypress Wetlands in Port Royal
St. Helena Island
Spanish Moss Trail
Penn Center
Fort Fremont
Port Royal
Lady’s Island

Beaufort, Part 1

Trying to cram Beaufort into one post doesn’t seem fair, so I’m splitting it into two. It still won’t cover everything, but it’s a start. I did two walking tours of the town when I camped last at Hunting Island State Park. On the first day, I walked along the harbor and Bay Street, heading inland for the Arsenal.

I’d studied several books and worked up my own walking guide before visiting. A sheet of paper is less bulky than a book although you miss out on the history bits. If you want a nice book, a nice one is A Guide to Historic Beaufort which is published by the Historic Beaufort Foundation. I had a 1995 edition.

I started at the marina. Having arrived early in the day, finding a parking spot was easy. My walk took me along the river and toward the swing bridge. To my delight it opened as I arrived at US21, which crosses the Beaufort River.

Woods Memorial Bridge. It’s one of less than swing bridges left in SC and crosses the Intracoastal Waterway between Beaufort and Lady’s Island. The bridge was featured in the move ‘Forrest Gump’, as a bridge over the Mississippi River.

Near the bridge is a good view of the Beaufort River.

M. Verdier House – 801 Bay St – c1790. Two-story frame building on a raised tabby basement. After the Civil War the house was a fish market, an ice house, law offices, the telephone office, and even a barber shop. In 1942, it had fallen in such disrepair it was condemned. But it was saved. The Historic Beaufort Foundation acquired it in1968.

Habersham House – 802-806 Bay St – c1800. This was thought to have been at various times a customs house, a hotel, and a commissary store during the Civil Wall.

Luther’s Pharmacy – 910 Bay St

J A Cuthbert House – 1203 Bay St – c1811, typical Beaufort waterfront house. Federal style on raised foundation
Built by John Alexander Cuthbert for his new bride, Mary. When Union troops arrived and whites fled, the U.S. seized the property and sold it in tax sales. This was bought by Brigadier General Rufus Saxton for $1,000. He later read the emancipation Proclamation under a tree in the camp, Proclamation Tree, on 1 Jan 1863.

Tabby Manse – 1211 Bay St – c 1786-88, one of few remaining buildings in SC with wall made entirely of tabby.

Robert Smalls Memorial – 907 Craven – sits of the grounds of the Tabernacle Baptist Church which was built in the 19th century. Robert Smalls (1839 – 1915) was first a slave, then captain of the “Planter” and later a US Congressman

The Arsenal – 703 Craven – 1798-1852, built of brick and tabby. Home to the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery. It’s now a museum and displays war and industrial artifacts.

Carnegie Library – 701 Craven

How to Get There:
Beaufort is located on US21. From I95, take exit 33, and head east on US17. This joins US21, which goes in and through Beaufort.

Links:
http://www.beaufortsc.org/

What’s Close By:
Hunting Island State Park
Cypress Wetlands in Port Royal
St. Helena Island
Spanish Moss Trail
Penn Center
Fort Fremont
Port Royal
Lady’s Island