An 1897 Victorian main house, a handful of restored cottages, courtyard guest houses and private flats stitched together across most of a downtown block, the most complete address in historic Beaufort.
"If you only book one inn in the Lowcountry, book this one. The Beaufort Inn owns nearly a full block of the most photographed corner of downtown, and the only real decision is whether you want a fireplace room in the main house or a flat with its own courtyard."
The Beaufort Inn began life in 1897 as a private Victorian summer retreat, built by lawyer and state representative William Sidney Smith for his family. The original house was renamed The Beaufort Inn in 1930, and across the following ninety years it absorbed a row of neighbouring antebellum cottages, courtyard guest houses and small flats until the property quietly came to occupy nearly an entire city block on Port Republic Street. That accretion is the secret of the place. There is no single front door experience here; each guest enters whichever house they have been assigned, walks through their own private garden, and meets the inn on the inn's own historic terms.
The 28 keys are split across the Main Inn, the Tabby House, four cottage residences, and a small block of contemporary flats above the Inn's restaurant. The Main Inn rooms are the most period-correct: heart pine floors, working fireplaces, claw-foot soaking tubs, four-poster beds, and verandas overlooking the corner of Port Republic and Newcastle. The cottages, set back behind walled gardens, are larger, quieter, and the right choice for a four-night stay. The flats are the surprise of the property, freshly renovated, full kitchens, hardwood floors throughout, and a low-key contemporary palette that breaks cleanly with the Victoriana.
Breakfast runs as a complimentary continental service in the Parlor Room from seven to ten each morning, generous on pastries and Starbucks coffee, light on hot food. The food story is told instead by the Inn's restaurant, a properly run Southern kitchen that opens for dinner and pulls in non-guests from across the historic district. The bar program is small but precise, with a short bourbon list, three solid house cocktails, and a wine selection focused on the Carolinas. Bicycles are complimentary, the historic walking district begins at the property gate, and the Spanish moss arrives at no extra charge.
Service across the inn leans warm and personal rather than formal. The front desk knows the city block by name, the housekeeping team works in the same cottages year after year, and most repeat guests are addressed by their first name on arrival. The Beaufort Inn is consistently rated the top historic boutique stay in the city and remains the default booking for an anniversary, an early honeymoon, or a long solo weekend with no plan beyond porch sitting and the occasional kayak.
For an anniversary at the Lowcountry end of the South, the Beaufort Inn is the clean booking. Book a fireplace room in the Main Inn for the historic note, ask the front desk to arrange a private dinner in the restaurant's tucked-back corner, and walk the Old Bay waterfront the next morning. The whole stay reads as a milestone without ever quite looking like one.
A Southern honeymoon at the Beaufort Inn favours the private cottages over the Main Inn rooms: more space, a walled garden, and your own front door. Pair three nights here with two on the coast at Sea Pines or Kiawah for the cleanest Lowcountry honeymoon week, and book the Inn's restaurant for the wedding-night dinner before you go anywhere else.
For a solo Lowcountry weekend, ask for one of the smaller Tabby House rooms or a flat with a kitchen. The neighbourhood does most of the work, two bookstores, a strong walking tour, the Penn Center across the Broad River, and an unusually quiet morning porch sequence that the inn protects more carefully than most.
809 Port Republic Street
Beaufort, SC 29902
United States
Half block from the waterfront park, two blocks from the John Mark Verdier House and the Beaufort History Museum
28 keys across Main Inn, cottages, courtyard houses and flats
Doubles from $173/night
Garden suites from $260/night
Cottage residences from $325/night
Two-bedroom flat to $450/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Main Inn building dates to 1897; cottages early 19th century
Complimentary continental breakfast
On-site Southern restaurant (dinner only)
Walled courtyard gardens
Complimentary bikes
Business centre
Complimentary WiFi throughout
From $173/night. Fireplace rooms and the cottages book three months out for Water Festival week in July and for Beaufort International Film Festival in February.
View Rates & Dates →The fourteen-room tabby waterfront inn, the oldest large tabby structure still in use in the Lowcountry.
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