Visit the Old Burying Ground where a child was buried in a keg of rum

Nestled in the 400 block of Ann Street in Beaufort — North Carolina’s third-oldest town and Budget Travel’s Coolest Small Town 2012 — sits one of the area’s oldest cemeteries, the Old Burying Ground. Established in the early 1700s, the cemetery has been full for nearly 200 years but has remained a popular spot for tours because of its unusual inhabitants. Here lies a child who was buried in a keg of rum after she died at sea, as her father promised he would bring her home and rum was the only way to preserver her; a British soldier who was buried standing up; and the common grave of the crew of Crissie Wright, who died when their schooner went aground at Shackleford Banks during a storm in January 1886. On the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Burying Ground tells many stories of colonial life in Beaufort. Guided tours are available throughout the summer with docents from the Beaufort Historic Site and year-round on the Beaufort Ghost Walk.