History connoisseurs experience the charming setting of a quaint seaport village in the Crystal Coast – North Carolina’s Southern Outer Banks – during the 49th annual Beaufort Old Homes & Gardens Tour, from June 26-27, 2009, in conjunction with the town’s 300th birthday. The Hammock House – Blackbeard the infamous pirate’s Beaufort escape – opens its doors for visitors this historic year during the Old Homes & Gardens Tour. The event also allows guests to view a variety of historic highlights from the oldest courthouse in North Carolina and the Old Burying Grounds with gravesites from early 18th century to award-winning gardens and charming private homes dating back as far as 300 years.

Visitors wander along the Old Homes & Gardens Tour exploring historic homes, beautiful gardens and public buildings throughout Beaufort, including the primitive federal style of the John C. Manson home (c. 1825) displaying decorative faux finishes, the Buckman House (c. 1843) that was a hotel during the Civil War and the Wade House (c. 1785), with only a front room and an attic, it was owned by women for its first century. Celebrating its 300th birthday with the town, the Hammock House was home to Blackbeard in the early 1700s and is still stained with soldier’s blood from a Civil War battle. Ghost-hunters peruse Beaufort’s Old Burying Ground absorbing eccentric stories including the little girl buried in a keg of rum and the soldier buried standing up in his full uniform saluting England.

The Crystal Coast offers visitors a variety of lodging options to suit every lifestyle and budget from seaside cottages and massive beach mansions to oceanfront hotel accommodations and seaside bed and breakfast suites. Beaufort accommodations include (sampling only):

• Inlet Inn - $145/night


• Carteret County B&B - $110/night


• Pecan Tree Inn - $140/night


• Beaufort Inn - $129/night

Dangling like a delicate strand of pearls off the coast of North Carolina, the favored Atlantic beach destination of generations represents one of the only remaining natural barrier island systems in the World. The Islands are strung together with 85 miles of silken coastline along the southern Outer Banks, 56 miles of which are in the protected Cape Lookout National Seashore. Miles of shimmering water reflects countless tiny suns during the day and shatters the moon into a thousand pieces at night. Lush maritime forests edge the silken coast like emerald jewels studding a royal crown. The barrier islands take a curious southward curve, blessing the Crystal Coast with beaches that course east and west making it possible to admire the dazzlingly bright sun rise to greet the day and then slip into the shimmering translucent blue waters in the evening during a spectacular North Carolina sunset.

For more information on the Beaufort Old Homes & Gardens Tour, call 800-575-7483 or visit www.beauforthistoricsite.org.

To experience North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, call (800) 786-6962 or visit www.crystalcoastnc.org.