Follow
Follow Us
Like Us
Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Carteret County, North Carolina.
Official Website
History
The first male of English parents born in the current area of North Carolina was John Fulford. He was born in 1629 in what is now Carteret County. He settled in this area and died in 1729. An article dated Sept. 18, 1893, in The New Bern Daily Journal, identified Fulford's grave in a cemetery outside the county seat of Beaufort, in an area called the Straits. It was described as “bricked up with English brick.” In 1971 a survey by the Carteret County Historical Society found such a grave in the Fulford Cemetery off Piper Lane in Gloucester. The unmarked, bricked-up grave matching this description survives today.
One of the more prominent families from Carteret County was the Dennis family. William Dennis Sr. (b.1720 - d.1800) was an extremely colorful landowner, Revolutionary War officer, and defender of the county. In 1747, he assisted with the successful defense of the county during the War of Jenkins' Ear (fighting against Spanish pirates). During the Revolutionary War he served as a 2nd Major in the Carteret County Regiment of the North Carolina militia. In 1782, he fought alongside Lieutenant Colonel John Easton to drive the British from Carteret County. Dennis once owned the Hammock House, which became well known as the house owned by the pirate Blackbeard. His son, William Dennis Junior was a Captain in the 8th North Carolina Regiment (1777-1778), was present at Valley Forge and also fought in the Carteret County Regiment (1781-1782). In the 1790 US Census, Dennis was one of the largest land owners in the county. Branches of the Dennis family include the Bells, Watsons and Pelletiers, many of whom continued to live in the area for many years. In a typical pattern of following the availability of new lands in the Deep South, some branches of this family later migrated to Mississippi and Texas in the 19th century.
The Siege of Fort Macon, during the U.S. Civil War, took place on the outer banks of Carteret County, from March 23-April 26, 1862. It was part of Union Army General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina Expedition.
Adjacent Counties
Towns
- Atlantic Beach
- Beaufort
- Bogue
- Cape Carteret
- Cedar Point
- Emerald Isle
- Indian Beach
- Morehead City
- Newport
- Peletier
- Pine Knoll Shores
Other Townships & Communities
Atlantic | Bettie | Brandywine Bay | Broad Creek | Cape Lookout | Cedar Island | Core Creek | Davis | Gales Creek | Gloucester | Harkers Island | Harlowe | Lola | Marshallburg | Merrimon | Mill Creek | Morehead | North River | Ocean | Otway | Portsmouth | Salter Path | Sea Level | Seagate | Smyrna | South River | Stacy | Stella | Straits | White Oak | Wildwood | Williston | Wiregrass
Links
Cape Lookout Coast Guard Station
National Register of Historic Places
Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge
Croatan National Forest (part)
NC Genealogy - Carteret County Index
Carteret County Historical Society
History Museum of Carteret County
