The main Inn house is a classic example of Victorian architecture with wide front porches and curved rear porches designed to catch the soothing sea breezes. Guests have been welcomed to the Inn for more than 100 years. Built as a summer retreat for his family by attorney and Congressman William Sidney Smith in 1897, the Inn has been completely restored and renovated with modern amenities.
Edmund Rhett drafted The Articles of Secession that led to the Civil War in this building. Along with his brother Robert Barnwell Rhett, Edmund was known as one of the “Fire-eaters” that advocated for secession as early as 1844. In classic Beaufort fashion, the building also served as voter registration center for decades during which untold numbers of freed slave registered to vote at the same site where the words leading to secession and the US Civil war were first put to paper.
This cottage on Scott Street was built in 1895 by the Female Benevolent Society, a society that would educate and provide relief for destitute children. The society leased the cottage for many years, using the income to help the needy. Some tenants of the cottage during that time included the CloverClub, which operated a circulating library (1910-1917) and an infirmary (1917-1925).