1718 Display of Blackbeard's Severed Head · End of Blackbeard's Career · Colonial-Era Anti-Piracy Enforcement Site · Roadside America Listed Historical Marker
Edward Teach, widely known as Blackbeard, operated as a pirate in the Atlantic and Caribbean from approximately 1716 until his death in November 1718. He had briefly been based in North Carolina under a de facto arrangement with the colony's governor, Charles Eden, which attracted attention from Virginia's Governor Alexander Spotswood. Spotswood organized and funded a naval expedition to eliminate Blackbeard without authorization from the Crown — a legally ambiguous action that reflected the threat Blackbeard's presence posed to coastal shipping.
On November 22, 1718, Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard engaged Blackbeard's sloop near Ocracoke Inlet in an intense close-quarters fight. Blackbeard sustained multiple gunshot wounds and sword cuts before dying on deck. Maynard's men counted five musket balls and some twenty sword wounds on the body. After the battle, Maynard cut off Blackbeard's head and hung it from his ship's bowsprit for the return voyage to Hampton, Virginia.
Upon arriving, Maynard displayed the head on a pole at the mouth of the Hampton River as a public notice against piracy. The location is now Mill Point Park. A historical marker installed at the park notes the 1718 event and its place in the post-Golden Age of Piracy enforcement that followed. Roadside America lists the marker as a notable attraction for visitors interested in pirate history and colonial-era justice.
The site offers no facilities beyond the marker and public park grounds. Hampton ghost tours include Blackbeard's ghost as one of the city's persistent legends, citing the violent circumstances of his death and the public spectacle of the head's display at this location.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard%27s_Point
- https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/70036
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard
Apparitions
Hampton ghost tours have included Blackbeard's Point as a stop on the city's paranormal circuit since at least the early 2000s. The legend holds that Blackbeard's spirit remains tethered to the Hampton River location where his head was displayed — consistent with a common folkloric pattern in which violent, public death generates haunting traditions.
No historical investigation programs or organized paranormal events operate at Mill Point Park. The site's dark-tourism value is anchored firmly in documented history: a confirmed 1718 public execution and display, a named Royal Navy officer, and a named pirate whose biography is extensively documented. The marker provides the factual spine; the ghost tradition is a local accretion of roughly three centuries.
Visitors come primarily to see the marker and stand at the river mouth where the event occurred. The park setting is open and public, making it one of the more accessible historical dark-tourism stops in Hampton.
Notable Entities
Blackbeard (Edward Teach)
