Carteret County, North Carolina: 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 September 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 U.S. 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.
In 2024, real estate developers in Cedar Point disturbed the site of an ancient Native American settlement. The discovery led to controversy over the continuance of the housing development and calls for new regulations to protect historical sites. Several state lawmakers pushed for construction to resume, with one legislator receiving campaign contributions from the project's developers in 2022.