That's My World Tuesday #4: The Elizabeth Inn: Sabiston House (1857)

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"The Elizabeth Inn: Sabiston House (1857)"
Beaufort, NC - October 2008 (Click to embiggen)

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Beaufort NC's lodging industry is mainly comprised of small, independent inns tucked into corners of the Historic District. Most of them operate as Bed & Breakfasts, but one of my favorites of the lot skips the "breakfast" part of the equation. The Elizabeth Inn operates out of the Sabiston House built in 1857. You're looking at it from Front Street. Immediately to your right is the Maritime Museum (which I highly recommend). To the left is another in called The Cedars (which I have never stayed in). behind you is the boatwright's shop for the museum and the harbor itself. Just across the harbor is Carrot Island, a part of the Rachel Carson Preserve and home to some of the wild horses known as the "Banker Ponies". Over your left shoulder you could see Beaufort Inlet (if the boatwright's shop wasn't in the way).

Sabiston House is also rumored to be the residence of several ghosts. Most notably Captain John Sabiston -- builder of the house and merchant seaman and his daughter Rosebud. Neither of them seems to mind having corporeal company sharing the house. In my stays there I've never seen any evidence of haints, but there was one occasion when I may have heard some.

A bit of background first. Each year in early December, the owners of the obnoxiously expensive boats moored along the waterfront deck their hulls with boughs of holly for a waterborne Christmas parade known locally as the Christmas Flotilla. the boats sail out of Beaufort inlet, around the point to Morehead City and back again. And the balcony you see in the photo is a perfect vantage point from which to watch the proceedings.

Several years ago I took the opportunity to spend the night of the parade at the Elizabeth. I (correctly) reasoned that it would not only be the perfect place to watch from, but the perfect place to stay. And the off season rates were incredibly reasonable for the location. Despite that, we were the only guests staying at the house that night. The owner doesn't live on the property, nor does the manager so we had the entire house to ourselves.

Or so we thought. The morning after the flotilla, I was on the stairs and heard a woman cough. I naturally assumed that it was the manager come to take care of some business or other, but as I made my way to the kitchen to start the coffee, I realized that the house was in fact empty. When the manager came in some time later I confirmed that she was only now arriving and hadn't been at the house earlier. Both outside doors were locked, and at that hour very few people were stirring even outside. None of the nearby businesses had opened yet, so there was no reason for anyone to have been prowling that end of Front Street.

The manager didn't seem at all ruffled by this and even went as far as to suggest (with a calm that unnerved me even further) that perhaps I'd heard one of the resident spooks.

But the experience wasn't enough to keep me from booking other stays in the inn, though I never had any more ghostly encounters. Perhaps it was someone outside. Or a noise that I simply mistook for a cough. Maybe there's nothing to it at all...

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