Beaufort NC Inlet & Harbor: January Trip to Town Marsh

A LITTLE EARLY HISTORY

Coree Indians once occupied the peninsula and coastal area south of the Neuse River in present-day Carteret and southern Craven counties. Cwareuuock, the reference to the Coree tribe on a few early maps, included the Algonquian ending ―euuock, roughly translated "people of" Cwar.

"About 1706, five years before the beginning of the Tuscarora War, the Coree had already begun to roam the coast from the New River of Onslow to Core Point and into their old homeland on the Pamlico south shore of 'Coree Tuck.'" (Al Pate)

Within months after the power of the Tuscarora Indians had been broken in March 1713, the Lords Proprietors gave permission to establish and lay out the town of Beaufort - October 2, 1713. Also in 1713, John Shackelford and son-in-law Enoch Ward purchased 7000 acres of “Sea Banks.” In 1723 the two men divided the property. Shackelford got Cape Lookout Bay to Beaufort Inlet; this western part became known as “Shackelford Banks”

In 1722, one year before the town of Beaufort was incorporated, then Governor Pollock confirmed an order from the Lords Proprietors appointing Beaufort as an official port. Carteret became a precinct in 1722; a county in 1739.

The inlet was known as Old Topsail Inlet. In his 1734 will, John Shackelford referred to his land as "eastward of Old Topsail Inlet." At some point the name evolved to "Beaufort Inlet."

Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)
--Alternate common name: Saltwater Cordgrass, Marsh Grass.
--Appearance: Tall, smooth grass. May be submerged at high tide. Grows 3 to 7 feet high. A shorter form, 6 to 12 inches high, occurs in low-oxygen areas of the high marsh. Green in spring and summer, turns light brown in late fall and winter.
--Habitat: Intertidal zone of salt marshes, banks of bays and creeks.
--Saltmarsh cordgrass is a tall, smooth grass ranging in height from 6 inches to 7 feet. Smooth cordgrass grows in three different sizes depending on its location in the salt marsh. It grows tallest near the water, is an intermediate size behind large cordgrass, and is shortest near the high marsh meadow grass. The shorter smooth cordgrass can often be found in areas of low elevation in the marsh. The flowering stalks resemble wheat and are arranged along one side of the stalk, similar to salt hay grass. Its leaves are thick and wide, and the root structure is strong and complex.
--Located in low marsh areas, it is flooded twice daily by the tidal action of the estuary. The complex root system of the smooth cordgrass helps bind it to the banks, preventing the tide from eroding the shoreline. Although it relies primarily on groundwater absorbed through the roots, smooth cordgrass is able to extract fresh water from salt water when the need arises. It is the main food supply for feral horses on the Rachel Carson Reserve.
--Salt marshes serve as pollution filters and as buffers against flooding and shoreline erosion

Beaufort NC Inlet & Harbor

January Trip to Town Marsh

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