MOREHEAD CITY

seaport resort, Carteret county, western North Carolina, U.S., on Bogue Sound (there receiving the Newport River) and on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, 32 mi (51 km) south-southeast of New Bern. In 1853, John Motley Morehead, governor of North Carolina (184145), purchased land on the site (then called Shepherd's Point), the projected terminus of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, which he believed had great potential for an Atlantic seaport. The railroad arrived in 1858, and the town was incorporated in 1861; it was captured by Union troops the next year. Morehead City is now the state's only deepwater port north of Wilmington, with one of the world's largest tobacco terminals and accommodation facilities for ocean-going and sport- and commercial-fishing craft. It has become a popular resort with a large summer cottage population and is highly favoured by Gulf Stream fishermen. Beaufort, just across the Intracoastal Waterway, is a colonial fishing village, and Atlantic Beach, Fort Macon, and Theodore Roosevelt Natural Area State parks are on Bogue Banks offshore. The Croatan National Forest is a few miles northwest. Pop. (1990) 6,046.