From the 1770 "Plan of the Town & Port of Beaufort" by French surveyor and cartographer Claude Joseph Sauthier

Beaufort NC Incorporated 1723

Incorporations had to be approved by the Royal Council, which was done only seven times during the colonial period.

1710 New Bern, and 1713 Beaufort, were both incorporated
during the same session of the General Assembly - November 23, 1723.

LAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA 1723

      An Act, for Incorporating the Seaport of Beaufort, In Carteret Precinct, Into a Township, by the Name of Beaufort.
    Whereas, a certain Plot of Ground, being Part of a Tract of Land, in Core Sound, late belonging to Robert Turner, Esq. but now the property of Richard Rustel Esq. was formerly laid  out into a Township, by the name of Beaufort Town, with proper Allotments for a Church, a Town-house, and a Market place, as by a Draught thereof, upon Record in the Secretary’s Office, doth,, and may, more fully and at large appear: And whereas the true and absolute Lords Proprietors of Carolina, upon the Petition of the Inhabitants of Core Sound, now called Carteret Precinct, have erected the same, into a Seaport [1722], by the Name of Port-Beaufort, and have invested the same with all Privileges and Immunities belonging to a Seaport: Therefore, for the Encouragement of the said Town, and the due Encouragement of the Trade and Commerce thereof, and the Parts adjacent.....