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Michelle's Journal
Beaufort, N.C. / Blackbeard
Know as "Fish Town" in the early 1700's when
Blackbeard frequented the coast, "Beaufort Town" was established as a
seaport with the right to collect customs in 1722. During the American
Revolution, it was the third largest port in the state. Beaufort, which is
pronounced ( Boford) by the locals, is an amazing place to visit.
We arrived in Beaufort about 1:30AM. The production crew and I were amazed by
the wonderful hospitality we received from everyone. Ben Cherry was our "Blackbeard" and has been in many professional productions for television. Ben is
not only a FANTASTIC actor but one of the sweetest, hardworking men in the biz.
Here is a great
link to find out more about Ben and if you ever need a pirate around!
The folks at the North Carolina Maritime Museum were a tremendous help while we
were there to shoot on location. The director of the museum, Dr. David Nateman,
was a wonderful tour guide as well as a big help in arranging things to help us
while on location. I highly recommend visiting this museum - it is truly
amazing. The history and artifacts are intriguing and very well displayed.
Blackbeard fans, this is one place to go because there are actual artifacts from
Blackbeard's ship, "The Queen Anne's Revenge". Here is a website to find out
more and if you go tell Dr. Nateman I sent you !
Beaufort also has this really historical, spooky graveyard that happened to be
one of our locations (during the day of course!) The graveyard is really a
beautiful place and has MANY stories of intrigue. We saw a grave of a soldier
who was buried standing up at his request. The soldier also wanted to be facing
England and saluting the queen...so his last dying wish was granted.
I learned a lot while in Beaufort, N.C. and everyone asked me when I arrived
back if anything weird or spooky happened. There was an incident that still can
not be explained. I brought all of my scripts with me on the trip and doubled
checked them before we left. My shot sheets, (we make a list of things we make
sure to tape on location), were also in my brief case, secured and ready to go.
The next day when we were ready to go out and shoot, I reached in my brief case
to find the script. Much to my surprise....I had EVERY script EXCEPT the
Blackbeard one. My shot sheet was gone, the scripts were gone – they were no where to be found! The crew and I had to go out on location basically "blind"
and grab what footage we could get. Later in the afternoon I was talking with
Dr. David Nateman and told him what happened. Dr. David just looked at me and
smiled and said, "Well, maybe you weren't supposed to tell that particular story
of Blackbeard. Maybe there is a different one you need to tell!" You know what?
Dr. Nateman was right, and I left Beaufort with a different story...or perhaps
it was more knowledge of the dastardly pirate called Blackbeard. I also NEVER
found the scripts when I returned to work and they are still missing. I think
Blackbeard may have been trying to tell me something!
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