The WYE

The Name - "The WYE"

Coming into Beaufort - Second block of Broad Street

Train images scanned from Jack Dudley's book, Beaufort - An Album of Memories

In railroad terminology, a “wye” is a triangular shaped arrangement of tracks with a switch at each corner.

Pronounced like the letter “Y”, the new WYE community in Beaufort was formerly the turnaround location for the Norfolk & Southern Railway.

Prior to 1906, visitors were met at the railroad terminus in Morehead City and brought to town by boat. After the railroad bridge was built across the channel, tracks were laid down the middle of Broad Street - bringing the outside world to Beaufort. For a short period, before the N & S Railway wye was completed, the first trains had to back into Beaufort.

From 1906 to 1993, the wye was located at Gordon and Broad Streets. By performing a three-point turn, the direction of a train was reversed - so that it could head back toward Morehead City.

In those early years, as the train lumbered into town on Broad Street, passengers would have seen sundries shops – like Noe’s, Dave Williams’ Grocery, and Richard Rice’s Fabric Shop - that sold everything from penny candy to 5-cent pickles. Until the 1920s, when the first automobiles came to town, passengers were met at the Beaufort Depot, at Broad and Pollock, and transported by horse-and-buggy to inns or family cottages.

More about the train...

The History - A Town Rich in Maritime Heritage

Even though there had been whaling off the North Carolina coast and barrier islands since the late 1600’s, in 1707 one of the first land patents was obtained from the eight Lords Proprietors. Part of this land, in the vicinity of Cape Lookout and present-day Beaufort, was a Coree Indian village—Wareiock, the name the Indians designated as their "fish town.”

The town grew at a snails pace for centuries, mainly due to lack of access to the interior of the state. Many settlers built fisherman’s cottages and lived off the land and the sea. Plantation owners built town houses as bases for their sea trading businesses.

After the Civil War, it was discovered that the waters surrounding Beaufort were teeming with menhaden. This perpetuated an important industry for processing these fish for oils and fertilizers. The now extinct processing plants became Beaufort trademarks and a big source of income for the town.

Boat building was also a natural for a small village by the sea. In old deeds and censuses, many early citizens noted their occupations as shipwrights.

Beaufort was only accessible by boat until 1908 when a railroad connection between Morehead City and Beaufort was completed. It wasn’t until 1926 that the first highway bridge was completed connecting the two towns.

Although Beaufort was affected directly by and took part in our country’s major events over the centuries, the town remained very isolated for the most of its history.

Today residents and visitors are thankful that Beaufort has not only maintained its historic appearance, but also remains small, quaint, and unspoiled.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Beaufort is unique in that it boasts approximately 266 houses over 100 years old – many are over 200 years old.

Architectural styles vary from Greek and Gothic Revival, Queen Anne and Craftman’s bungalows to traditional fisherman’s cottages. They all have one thing in common—they all have porches.