Beaufort NC Inlet & Harbor: History of Piver's Island

U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Laboratory 1902‒1953

In 1764, Peter Piver and William Robertson acquired acreage on the west end of Beaufort, then known as "Town Point;" this property likely included the small island that would take the Piver name. In 1795, court minutes noted Peter Piver and wife Lydia selling half the island to Elijah Bell.

In an 1853 court, Commissioner of Beaufort vs. Thomas Duncan, witness James Davis' recollections of 1817 were recorded, "…he had been informed by old citizens of Beaufort that the channel between Piver's Island, and the land in controversy, used to be dry at low tides, and that a log was put across the same, for persons to walk over, and that the dogs used to cross the same in going to hunt on the island."

Noted on maps as Piver's Island by 1854, it was also referred as "Still Island," due to a turpentine distillery operated there in the mid-to-late 1800s. In a post Civil War visit with Chief Justice Chase, Whitelaw Reid wrote, "Near the water's edge was a small turpentine distillery, the only manufacturing establishment of the place."

At the beginning of the 20th century, the island became site of the fisheries laboratory. On May 12, 1900, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act authorizing the establishment a U.S. Fish Commission Laboratory at Beaufort. Funds were appropriated, but no provision was made for the purchase of land. Through the efforts of Joseph Austin Holmes and Henry Van Peters Wilson, five universities and private donors raised $400, the amount needed to purchase 3-acre Piver's Island. Private donors were Samuel Thomas, Alonzo and Nancy Thomas, Thomas Murray and Laura Thomas, and Benjamin J. and Isabella Thomas Midyette.

The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Laboratory on Piver's Island was officially opened on May 26, 1902, with Professor Wilson as the first director. Until 1933, when a 1-lane wooden bridge was built, the island was only accessible by boat.

During the 1940s and early 1950s, the grounds and beach were visited by locals and tourists, often picnicking, swimming and viewing the exhibits, including the turtle hatchery. Terrapin culturist and lab foreman Charlie Hatsell supervised the propagation of thousands of young diamondback terrapins.

Scientists, including marine biologist Rachel Carson, worked and studied at the original 1902 Beaufort laboratory, which served them until 1953; having been condemned, due to major foundation issues, it was replaced with a 1-story building.

Above history from Mary Warshaw's book

Historic Beaufort, North Carolina - A Unique Coastal Village Preserved

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."

Beaufort NC Inlet & Harbor

History of Piver's Island

Administrator

Facebook

Followers