HISTORY OF THE NORCOM HOUSE
We were told many interesting "histories" about the Norcom House. We have confirmed it was headquarters for Union troops during the early days of Beaufort's occupation. There is also some disagreement (due to the style of construction) as to whether one section of the house originates from the late 1790s.
This is what we know for certain:
Edmund Norc0m, ships chandler in Beaufort, built the main two-story structure in 1851. The house was built about midway on the first block of Craven Street in Beaufort. (Many of its structural timbers were salvaged from pre-Civil War ships.) The Norcom family owned the home an astonishingly long time, from 1851 until 1984, or 133 years.
By happy accident in 2004, we discovered that one of the largest collections of surviving correspondences from Unionists inside the confederacy was actually written from the Norcom House. These letters, from John A. Hedrick to his brother, Benjamin S. Hedrick, had been compiled and edited by Michael Smith and Judkin Browning in 2001 in "Letters from a North Carolina Unionist." The letters chronicle day-to-day life in the Union-occupied town of Beaufort, including births, deaths, epidemics, celebrations, and fascinating details about life in the Norcom household.
The Norcom House was purchased by its current owners in 1984 to save the house from demolition. (There is now a parking lot where the Norcom family home once stood.) The house, divided into four large sections, was moved four blocks to its current site, 102 Ann Street. The move was a major event in the small town of Beaufort.
There are Norcom family descendants still in the area, all of whom note an abiding connection to the family home. Although the surname of Norcom is not currently found in the county, the Norcom name is certainly remembered and revered. The gravesites of the first generation of Norcom family members in Beaufort can be found in the Old Burying Ground, less than one block from the original site of the family home.
OF MORE RECENT INTEREST :
Several noted maritime artists have lived or stayed extensively in the Norcom House since 1984. Among them, Alan Cheek, Neil Watson and Dee Knott.
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