City of Beaufort at a Glance

The City was chartered in 1711 as the second-oldest settlement in South Carolina and named after Henry Somerset who was the 2nd Duke of Beaufort. The City was laid out with 397 lots and two focal points, one on the bay and the other at the intersection of Carteret and Craven Streets, where each corner was reserved for public use.

In the mid to late antebellum period, the rise of Carolina Gold rice and Sea Island cotton brought enormous wealth to Beaufort and the surrounding plantations. Beaufort was one of the wealthiest cities in the United State prior to the Civil War and was often considered to the “Newport” of the South. Although Charleston and Columbia were the leading cities in the State, much economic and political influence was reared by Beaufort.

The Civil War had a dramatic effect on Beaufort and it was one of the first communities in the South to be held in Union hands in November 1861. The Sea Island and the City of Beaufort were evacuated by the majority of the white inhabitants who abandoned their plantations, town houses and their slaves. The first school for freed slaves was established on nearby St. Helena Island in 1862 and would later be officially named Penn School. In addition to educational advancements, the City made some political ones as well. Robert Smalls, a native son and leading figure in post-war Beaufort would late become one of South Carolina’s first elected African-Americans to the United States Congress and remain a prominent civic leader in the State and in Beaufort until his death in 1915.

On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the African-American population which was growing as refugees from nearby plantations made their way to town looking for shelter and work. These former slaves took part in the first efforts to assimilate freed blacks into the broadest society known as the Port Royal experiment, giving them access to educational opportunities and property ownership.

A hurricane in 1893 followed by a downtown fire in 1907 brought a decline to Beaufort’s economy. Beaufort’s economic recovery in the latter half of the 20th century can be contributed to three major influences: military investment, resort development, and downtown revitalization. Parris Island was selected as a permanent home for the U.S. Marine Corp recruiting station in 1917. A Marine Corp Air Station and U.S. Naval Hospital was established and constructed during World War II. New investment in the form of resort and lifestyle development on nearby Hilton Head Island and Fripp Island also contributed to the economy of Beaufort and the Lowcountry starting in the 1960s. The completion of a downtown waterfront park in place of abandoned docks, championed by then-Mayor Henry Chambers, spurred the redevelopment and reinvestment of adjacent Bay Street and downtown Beaufort.

Today, light manufacturing, military installations and tourism bring in new dollars to Beaufort. Retirees and young families, drawn by the climate, history, and the as-yet unspoiled beauty, are the new settlers who add to the intellectual and cultural life of the Sea Islands.

Principal Property Taxpayers within the City of Beaufort

The area's unemployment rate continues to be lower than the State and National average based on the following chart of Sourth Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.