Nathaniel Taylor

Old Burying Grounds photo circa 1898
Image scanned from Rodney Barfield's Seasoned by Salt

Nathaniel Taylor once lived in the "White House," first shown of Moseley's 1733 map. Since Taylor was justice of the peace, court was held at his house until a courthouse was built.

According to Charles Paul, 1728 marked a high point in lot sales, perhaps due to more awareness and better promotion of the town. Between 1728 and 1732, twenty-one new lots were sold, plus 16 were resold by the town due to a lapse in building requirement. Most lots were purchased by speculators of the time and neither built houses or lived in the new town.

During his ownership of the town ((1725-1733), Taylor extended the town limits to include the "White House," and deeded land to the town which expanded the existing cemetery—The Old Burying Ground. In 1731, Governor Burrington described the town as one of “...little success and scarce any inhabitants.” In 1733, even though there had been a marked increase in settlers and sales, Nathaniel Taylor sold his interest in the town to Thomas Martin. The Beaufort waterfront “creek,” then at the eastern end of the settlement between Carrot Island and the mainland, was named for Taylor. (After Town Marsh began to grow, the water in front of the downtown waterfront, first known as Carrot Island Channel, was dredged; at that time, the portion across from "downtown" also became known as Taylor's Creek.)

As years passed, lots in Beaufort were transferred back and forth from one owner to another, but the town had little overall growth.