Engaging North Carolina
Carteret County
Quick Facts
Students: 255Applicants: 195
Alumni: 1313
Park Scholars: 1
Goodnight Scholars: 3
Caldwell Fellows: 2
Located on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, Carteret County has a population of 68,881 and a total employment of 22,987 (33.4%).
The county seat is Beaufort, approximately 155 miles from Raleigh.
Established as a county in 1739 and named for the family of Sir George Carteret, it was once the home of infamous English pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard.
The county’s most profitable agricultural product is grains, and the largest agricultural product by acreage is soybeans. The type of livestock produced most by total number is egg-laying chickens. The largest manufacturer is Bally Refrigerated Boxes (the county’s 10th-largest employer), which manufactures industrial cooling and refrigeration systems, and employs between 100 and 249 people.
NC State is Here
CMAST: Campus at the Coast
Located on Bogue Sound near downtown Morehead City, the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) is NC State’s home for interdisciplinary coastal research, spanning three colleges, six departments and a wide range of educational disciplines.
Since 2017, undergraduate students have been able to participate in the Semester@CMAST program, the university’s first semester-long program for academic coastal and marine research. Students of any major — between 15 and 25 per year — can spend the spring semester studying at the coast and earn 15 credit hours while living at the CMAST Coastal Quarters, a 13-unit, 12,000-square-foot apartment complex operated by University Housing. No course prerequisites are required for students to participate in the program.
CMAST is a vibrant participant in the “Coastal Research Triangle,” since it is located within five miles of the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences, the Duke University Marine Lab and the NOAA Beaufort Laboratory. Other nearby research centers and agencies include the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and the North Carolina Maritime Museum.
(Read more about CMAST here and the Semester@CMAST here.)
From Boat to Board
Randy Ramsey of Beaufort became North Carolina’s youngest licensed charter boat captain at the age of 18. Since then he has gone on to develop one of Carteret County’s most recognizable brands and one of the nation’s largest custom boat manufacturers, Jarrett Bay Boatworks, with sales operations from Maryland to Florida. In addition to his work on custom boats, Ramsey maintains a 42-acre marine industrial park and has developed his own retail clothing line. In 2016, the longtime supporter of and leader at NC State and his wife, Tiffany, gave the university its largest athletics endowment gift and the single largest gift to the Equine Sports Medicine Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Ramsey has served NC State as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and in the summer of 2019 was named chairman of the UNC System Board of Governors. (Read more about Ramsey’s leadership here.)
Cap'n Willis Seafood Market's Jon Gardner puts fresh shrimp on ice for a customer in the Emerald Isle store.
Fresh North Carolina crabs available at Cap'n Willis Seafood Market in Emerald Isle.
Cap'n Willis Seafood Market's Jon Gardner makes sure all the fish out front are covered and on ice in the Emerald Isle store.
Cap'n Willis Seafood Market's Trey Willis cleans fresh-caught grouper in the Emerald Isle store.
Cap'n Willis Seafood Market's Neal Smith sizes and separates fresh Bogue Sound shrimp.
The sun heads down on a warm fall day at Atlantic Beach.
Beach walkers head west along the sandy shores of Atlantic Beach.
A beach umbrella protects beachgoers from the sun at Atlantic Beach.
A heron stands in a marsh along the shoreline of Harkers Island.
A marsh along the shoreline of Harkers Island.
A sea gull watches Taylors Creek from a dock pylon along the Beaufort waterfront.
A clock on Front Street in Beaufort.
An egret hunts for breakfast among the grasses on Pivers Island near Beaufort as a pelican cruises overhead.
An egret watches for breakfast from the grasses along Pivers Island near Beaufort.
Recreational boaters cruise into Radio Island Marina on a sunny fall day.
Fisherman Nery Jesus Hernandez of Raleigh reacts to a strike while fishing on the former Bogue Banks bridge at sunset on Atlantic Beach.
Welcome sign at the entrance to Atlantic Beach.
Fisherman Nery Hernandez of Raleigh tosses his casting net off the former Bogue Banks bridge at sunset at Atlantic Beach.
The sun sets on homes and docks along Peletier Creek in Morehead City.
The sun sets on boats docked at Coral Bay Marina in Morehead City.
A "no wake zone" near homes and docks along Peletier Creek in Morehead City.
The sun sets on boats docked at Coral Bay Marina in Morehead City.
A lone fisherman wets a hook from Straits Fishing pier between Gloucester and Harkers Island.
A lone fisherman wets a hook from Straits Fishing pier between Gloucester and Harkers Island.
Boats docked at a Harkers Island marina in Carteret County.
Lookout Lady II heads from Harkers Island out to Cape Lookout.
Shrimp boat captain Dallas Rose repairs his net alongside his boat Lady Jane at Harkers Island.
Boats docked at a Harkers Island marina in Carteret County.
Boats docked at a Harkers Island marina in Carteret County.
Low tide reveals oyster shells and trash at the bottom of Taylors Creek outside Beaufort.
Low tide reveals oyster shells at the bottom of Taylors Creek outside Beaufort.
Cape Lookout Lighthouse against a bright blue sky.
Cape Lookout Lighthouse against a bright blue sky.
Tourists on the ferry ride over to Cape Lookout Lighthouse from Harkers Island.
Fishermen zip along the shoreline of Cape Lookout.
The sun sets over cottages and beach homes along the dunes at Atlantic Beach.
Shrimp boats and fishing boats docked at Beaufort Inlet Seafood.
Shrimp boats and fishing boats docked at Beaufort Inlet Seafood.
Boaters spending a summer day on Shackleford Banks.
A fishing boat trolls along the shoreline at Atlantic Beach.
Sunset along the sands of Atlantic Beach.
Surf anglers fish along the waves of Atlantic Beach during the last few minutes of daylight.
The sun sets over cottages and beach homes along the dunes at Atlantic Beach.
Beachgoers enjoys the last minutes of sunlight along the sands of Atlantic Beach.
Surf fisherman feels a strike while trying his luck among the waves of Atlantic Beach.
Beachgoers enjoys the last minutes of sunlight along the sands of Atlantic Beach.
Surf fisherman tries his luck amid the waves of Atlantic Beach during the last few minutes of daylight.
Waves crash around Oceanana Pier, Atlantic Beach's last remaining fishing pier.
United States and North Carolina flags flap in the summer breeze near the dunes of Atlantic Beach.
Piers and docks on Bogue Sound in Morehead City.
A fisherman hauls his boat over the Bogue Sound bridge between Morehead City and Atlantic Beach.
A stormwater drain runoff pipe emptying into Bogue Sound in Morehead City.
A stormwater drain runoff pipe emptying into Bogue Sound in Morehead City.
Cape Lookout Lighthouse against a bright blue sky.
Storm clouds roll across Carteret County.
A surf fisherman makes a cast as the sun sets on the coast at Atlantic Beach.
Crane and tugboats at Morehead City Port.
Boats docked along the waterfront in Beaufort.
Summer sun cuts across the surf as anglers troll along the shore off Atlantic Beach.
Dunes separate cottages from the ocean at Atlantic Beach.
Seafood markets and restaurants along Bogue Sound at Indian Beach.
Boats on lifts at Homer's Point Marina at Indian Beach on Bogue Sound.
A red neon "seafood" sign glows from the front window of Willis Seafood Market at Indian Beach on Bogue Sound.
Red neon signs glow from the front windows of Willis Seafood Market at Indian Beach on Bogue Sound.
NC State's home on the coast is the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, located on Bogue Sound.
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Pride of the Pack
Motoring the State
John Alsey Park, newspaper editor and banker, earned his degree in mechanical engineering at NC State in 1905 at the age of 19. He bought the Raleigh Times in 1911 and ran it and other prominent newspapers in Fayetteville, New Bern and Greenville for more than four decades. He was also the owner and publisher of Turner’s Almanac.
An early automobile enthusiast, Park made the first drive from Raleigh to Carteret County’s Morehead City, a trip that took two days and required the construction of several temporary bridges. He helped write the state’s first traffic laws and was later appointed to the North Carolina Advisory Committee on Highway Safety.
Shortly after World War II, Park was on a trip to Germany when a little German girl asked him for suggestions on what to read. He returned home and shipped her a box of books, beginning a reading program that eventually shared more than 5 million books with the children of the war-ravaged continent, thanks to the efforts of Park, Gen. Lucius D. Clay and WWII flying ace Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker.
Parks was a community leader around the state and in his hometown of Raleigh. He served multiple terms on the NC State Board of Trustees. (Read more about Park here.)