This small quaint seaport has roots back to April 7, 1730 when Isaac and Jonathan Green Sr. purchased from Ebenezer Harker "a certain plantation and track of land containing by estimation 441 acres situate lying and being in ye Carterett in ye county of province of aforsaid being ye west side of ye mouth off White Oak River." By 1771 Theophilus Weeks started a town on his plantation, laying out a plat and selling lots. Formerly known as Bogue, Week's Point, The Wharf and New Town, the town was officially designated by the North Carolina General Assembly on May 6, 1783. Above photo (from North Carolina State Archives) courtesy Jack Dudley, as included in Swansboro - A Pictorial Tribute

1790 Census Records

Included in this link (posted on the Beaufort NC history site) are 1790 census images from the 1908 NC volume - Heads of Families NC 1790 - Also transcribed is some interesting history from the introduction, which gives one a better sense of what it was like in 1790 when George Washington ordered the first census. At that time, Carteret County included a much larger area, north to what is now part of Craven and Hyde Counties and south to what is now part of Onslow County; counties gained from, and lost to, other counties as lines were finally set. Even though it covered a large area, Carteret had a total of only 3,732 inhabitants, the least of any county in the New Bern District. By browsing through the images, viewers will note names like Theophilus Weeks. CLICK BOOK IMAGE or LINK ABOVE. 

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