The Beaufort Gazette serves northern Beaufort and northern Jasper Counties. Beaufort is located on Port Royal Island, one of the large Sea Islands along the southeast Atlantic coast of the United States. It is one of the few towns with its entire downtown designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a historic district. Port Royal is bounded by the Beaufort River and Battery Creek and offers a unique blend of small town atmosphere and natural settings. Beaufort, Port Royal, and nearby Parris Island are host to three military bases — Marine Corps Recruiting Depot Parris Island, the Beaufort Naval Hospital and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort — and more than 17,000 active duty military members and their families live and work in the area. The region in and around Beaufort County has been a popular spot for the film industry, with movies such as Forrest Gump, The Big Chill, The Prince of Tides, and GI Jane being filmed in the area. Beaufort is also home to USC Beaufort, an extension campus of the University of South Carolina.

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