Beaufort is a town in Carteret County

Carteret County, North Carolina

Carteret County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 66,469. Its county seat is Beaufort. Most of the county is part of the Crystal Coast....

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Established in 1709, it is the third-oldest town in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

.

The population was 4,189 at the 2008 census and it is the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Carteret County

Carteret County, North Carolina

Carteret County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 66,469. Its county seat is Beaufort. Most of the county is part of the Crystal Coast....

. It is sometimes confused with a city of the same name

Beaufort, South Carolina

Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...

 in South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

; the two are distinguished by different pronunciation

Pronunciation

Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....

s.

Beaufort is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks

Inner Banks

The Inner Banks is a term used by some to describe the inland coastal region of eastern North Carolina, an area on the East Coast of the United States that is 22,227 square-miles by its broadest definition...

 region. The town is home to the North Carolina Maritime Museum

North Carolina Maritime Museum

The North Carolina Maritime Museum is a divisional museum of the North Carolina Museum of History. There are several branches of the Maritime Museum located in Beaufort, Southport and Roanoke Island.-North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort:...

, the Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

 Marine Laboratory (Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

The Nicholas School of the Environment is one of ten graduate and professional schools at Duke University. The Levine Science Research Center is home to the vast majority of its programs, while a secondary facility is maintained in the coastal town of Beaufort, North Carolina...

), and the NOAA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...

 Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research.