The initial starting point in piecing together Beaufort’s transition from a commercial fishing center to the town that exists today was to reevaluate histories of fisheries and tourism using the data sources highlighted below. Through this process it became apparent that changes within these two industries could not be analyzed in isolation as they were often enmeshed with one another as well as linked to broader trends that were occuring at regional, national, and global levels. We moved on to exploring other coastal spaces in the United States and found that many of the changes that occured in Beaufort shared commonalities with other gentrifying coastal communities. Using this lens of coastal gentrification and its common dimensions, we reexamined our data sources to see how this phenomenon was manifesting within Beaufort. Through this methodology, we were able to gain a better understanding of shifts that occurred in both fisheries and tourism in isolation, as well as start to draw connections between these movements in conjunction with greater changes in Beaufort. 

In sum, this approach allowed us to illuminate the transformation between Beaufort Then and Beaufort Now. This data analysis highlights that piecing together this story was not a linear process and often involved reexamining information that had already been gathered but with a new lens or perspective. This reexamination was critical in not only allowing us to generate a more complete history of Beaufort, but it also unlocked the idea that changes in fisheries and tourism are enmeshed in broader shifts caused by coastal gentrification.