History Of Bath: The Pirate Blackbeard
Blackbeard

No discussion about Bath can be complete without the legend of Edward Teach, better known to most as Blackbeard the Pirate.

The presence of Blackbeard is almost palpable along Bath's broad streets and beneath the shady trees on Bonner's Point. One of history's most colorful villains, Teach terrorized islands throughout the Caribbean and acquired his ships by overwhelming their captains and commandeering the vessel and crew.

When the lure of amnesty for his piracy brought him to Bath, Blackbeard surrendered to Colonial Governor Eden, received his certificate of pardon, and made Bath his base of operations and Eden his friend and compatriot. Though Eden and his Chief Justice Tobias Knight were suspected of trafficking in stolen goods with Blackbeard, neither man was ever prosecuted.
Edward Teach

The notorious pirate met his end in 1718 at the hands of the Royal Navy in a fierce battle off Ocracoke Island. The navy had been dispatched to pursue and destroy Blackbeard by Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood at the request of influential North Carolinians.

While in Bath, Blackbeard reportedly lived on Plum Point (often referred to as Teach's Point. From a vantage point in front of the towns Bonner House, looking south across the bay, the stretch of land visible on the left is Plum Point.) The foundation ruins of an ancient house on Plum Point have been rumored over the years to be the remains of Blackbeard's home. Fortune hunters have dug many a hold in the area in search of Blackbeard's buried treasure.