Sightseers in Charlotte enjoy the Mecklenburg County park system, which includes 175 parks with more than 14,000 acres, plus an extensive growing greenway system. Latta Plantation Nature Preserve—1,290 acres off Mountain Island Lake in northern Mecklenburg County—is a prime example, and the park is becoming a major recreational center in the Southeast. Special features include the Equestrian Center, with riding trails and a major show facility; the Carolina Raptor Center, a unique facility for caring for and exhibiting birds of prey, and an environmental center that includes a museum and permanent research and rehabilitation facilities; and Historic Latta Plantation, a restored plantation home dating from the early 1800s that includes a small operating farm that is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nature trails and picnic areas are available.
History buffs can take in the Hezekiah Alexander Home, built in 1774 and considered the oldest building in Mecklenburg County. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the home is furnished with authentic articles from the eighteenth century, and the adjacent Charlotte Museum of History presents a variety of changing exhibits. Located at Pineville is the James K. Polk Memorial, a state historic site devoted to the country's eleventh president with log buildings and their furnishings that serve as period pieces dating from the early 1800s and a visitor's center featuring a film on Polk's life. At Reed Gold Mine, where gold was discovered in 1799, visitors today can still pan for gold.
Within the city, Ray's Splash Planet Waterpark has 117,000 gallons of water in its indoor waterpark and also features a fitness center, concessions, and a summer camp.
Fun beckons just outside of Charlotte, too. To the south, but within Mecklenburg County, is Paramount's Carowinds, a 105-acre amusement park featuring rides, a 13-acre WaterWorks park with a 25,000-square-foot wave pool named Big Wave Bay, and in 2005 Nickelodeon Live presents favorite characters from their cable television shows. The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer provides train rides, antique autos, and transportation displays on its 53-acre site.
Culturally minded residents and visitors in Charlotte can view a wide array of collections at the Mint Museum of Art, founded in 1936, that houses more than 27,000 items including American art, pre-Columbian art, and American and European ceramics by such artists as Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, and Frederic Remington. As the oldest art museum and emerging as a major southern landmark in North Carolina, the museum's building formerly served as the first branch of the U.S. Mint from 1837–61. Other collections include a 6,000-piece costume collection, antique maps, and contemporary American prints. In 1999 its sister museum, the Mint Museum of Arts & Crafts, opened to present ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, and metalworks from historical to contemporary times.
The crown jewel of Charlotte's arts scene is the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, home to the Charlotte Symphony, which offers 115 performances each season with frequent guest artists; and Opera Carolina, which stages four major operas annually. Also anchored there are the Charlotte Choral Society, the Carolinas Concert Association, the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, the Charlotte Repertory Theatre Company, and the North Carolina Dance Theatre. The city's other musical groups include the Charlotte Boys & Girls Choir, Carolina Pro Musica, Chamber Music of Charlotte, and the Charlotte Music Club. The Charlotte Pops Orchestra brings a summer series of 16 free open air concerts to Symphony Park at SouthPark.
The state-of-the-art Verizon Wireless Pavilion (formerly Blockbuster Pavilion), which showcases world-class concerts, Broadway shows, opera, and ballet, is an outdoor amphitheater that can accommodate 19,000 people. For theater buffs, Charlotte Repertory Theatre, the city's first and only resident Equity theater company, presents three productions each summer. Theatre Charlotte, the state's oldest community theater, presents over 2,600 performances productions fueled by more than 500 local volunteers each year. Central Piedmont Community College's (CPCC) Summer Theatre has chased away the summer doldrums with its mostly-musicals schedule for over three decades. Since 1954, the Children's Theatre of Charlotte produces plays for and by children, presents special events, and holds classes.
The Charlotte City Ballet, a local company founded in 1985, offers classical and non-traditional performance throughout the year as does the Charlotte Youth Ballet. Cultural events, lectures, and entertainment are presented at the Afro-American Cultural Center.
Offerings in theater—as well as the other arts—are enriched in Charlotte because of its many colleges and universities. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Davidson College, Queens University of Charlotte, and Johnson C. Smith University all offer a variety of cultural programs for the general public. UNCC is the site of WFAE-FM, Char-lotte's National Public Radio affiliate.
Spirit Square is located in the historic First Baptist Church, built in 1909. The arts center is the result of private and corporate support, as well as a $2.5 million bond issue. More than 500,000 people visit the facility each year to enjoy its four galleries, take classes in such areas as theater, fiber, clay, and dance, and view performances in its intimate 750-seat theater. Watch performing artists, in all their variety and from all over the world at Spirit Square's 180-seat, black-box Duke Power Theatre, which is home to the Actor's Theater of Charlotte. Spirit Square is also home for area arts groups and has helped to spur the revitalization of Charlotte's uptown. It is considered the keystone of Charlotte's cultural center on North Tryon Street, which includes restaurants, several art galleries, the public library, and Discovery Place.
Located adjacent to Freedom Park, the Nature Museum is geared to younger visitors and features nature trails, live animals, classes, a planetarium, and a puppet theater. Collectible treasures from around the world are on display at the Farvan International Gallery.
There are 14 galleries located in "NoDa" as Charlotte's historic northern district is called. The ArtHouse Center for Creative Expression has fine art, photography, textile art, and sculptures. The Center of the Earth Gallery (CTE) is award-winning and displays an eclectic collection of contemporary works from both regional and national artists.
Visitors can explore the wonders of science at Discovery Place, ranked among the 10 most outstanding hands-on science and technology museums in the country, which includes an IMAX Dome Theatre.
Charlotteans like to celebrate, and festivals abound almost year-round. The biggest is the three-day Spring Fest, which draws more than 300,000 people uptown to celebrate the rites of spring each April. Among the offerings are food, entertainment by local and nationally known performers, games, art exhibits, and an art competition. Also, during May, the city celebrates the 600 Festival, an auto-racing event tied to the Coca-Cola 600 that includes a parade, fireworks, and unusual competitive events such as a bathtub derby and culminates with a charity ball.
Numerous neighborhoods have festivals and celebrations throughout the summer. In the fall, Festival in the Park, held in Freedom Park, says farewell to summer in a fun-filled 4 days featuring 175 artists and nearly 1,000 entertainers. The free event has art awards totaling about $4,000. The annual Greek Yiasou Festival celebrates Charlotte's largest ethnic community, and November's Southern Christmas Show, the largest indoor event in the Carolinas and Virginia, is a holiday crafts show that extends over 10 days at Charlotte's Merchandise Mart. Each year the Christmas season is launched in Charlotte with the Carolinas' Carousel Parade on Thanksgiving Day.
The Carolina Panthers, a National Football League expansion team, began play in Charlotte in the 1996 season in Bank of America Stadium (originally Ericsson Stadium), a $187 million state-of-the-art black and silver 73,258-seat stadium that was custom built for them. Local basketball fans were disappointed when the Charlotte Hornets decided to move their professional National Basketball Association team to New Orleans. However, in 2004 the expansion Bobcats picked up play at the Charlotte Coliseum while they await a brand new $264 million arena located in the city. Since 1997 the Charlotte Sting has played for the Women's National Basketball League (WNBA). Professional golf comes to town during May for the Wachovia Championship at Quail Hollow Club, founded in 2003. To date, the event has sold out all of its 35,000 daily tickets.
The annual Continental Tire Bowl has been extremely popular since its inception in 2002. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers plays basketball at the Halton Arena. The Shrine Bowl Game at Memorial Stadium pits the top high-school stars from North and South Carolina. Proceeds from the event, which began in 1937, go to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Greenville, South Carolina.
Until 2005 the Charlotte Observer Marathon Run for Peace had some of the top name runners in the country. However, it suffered a setback when the former director pled guilty to embezzlement; the group is planning to revive the run in January 2006. A local running store has inserted itself into the picture by announcing a Run for Your Life marathon to occur in December 2005. Spring signals the opening of the 167,000-seat Lowe's Motor Speedway, which attracts fans to its NASCAR events, including the Coca-Cola 600 during Memorial Day weekend, among other races. Summer ushers in a full season of baseball played by the Charlotte Knights, the city's Triple A minor league team in the Chicago White Sox farm system.
For active pursuits, Charlotte-Mecklenburg County boasts 14,000 acres of parks and over 20 recreation centers. The city's more than 175 parks include recreation centers, a petting zoo, playgrounds, more than 1,000 swimming pools, volleyball, basketball, 100 tennis courts, soccer and softball fields, 10 golf courses, and a motocross track. A BMX bike track (which has hosted national tournaments) is located at the Hornets Nest Park, which sits on 102 acres and also has facilities for baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball; 10 playgrounds; and a lake with a fishing pier. One of the park system's oldest recreation centers, the Enderly Recreation Center, underwent a major renovation and in May 2005 opened with 21,000 square feet that includes a gymnasium, three multipurpose rooms, senior and youth activity rooms, a computer lab, and an adult fitness center. Skateboarders can enjoy expansive new courses, a multi bowl, and a variety of terrains at Grayson Skatepark, opening in spring 2005.
For those who prefer water activities, Lake Wylie and Lake Norman are about a 20-minute drive from uptown. Boating, swimming, water skiing, and fishing can be enjoyed in an unspoiled wooded environment. The mountains of North Carolina—the highest east of the Mississippi—are just two hours away by car, and they offer the delights of skiing, backpacking, hiking, and mountain climbing. Two hundred miles of Atlantic Ocean beach, with beckoning surf and offerings of swimming, sunning, boating, and fishing, are a three-hour drive away.
A variety of shopping experiences are available to Char-lotteans. The Eastland Mall offers more than 100 stores including Sears and Burlington Coat Factory, an ice rink called "Ice House" that offers lessons and party packages, and cinemas. Midtown Square is a discount mall with a central food court that is in the midst of redevelopment that will, by 2007, include high-profile stores such as Target and Home Depot EXPO Design Center. Meanwhile SouthPark Mall, Charlotte's most upscale facility, offers 1.2 million square feet of shopping space in one of America's top selling retail centers, with plans to add a Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus by the holiday season of 2006. Adjacent to Carowinds amusement park is the Outlet Marketplace Mall, which features more than 50 outlet and off-price stores, a farmer's market, a flower market, and a food court. Charlotte Regional Farmers Market features locally grown produce, baked goods, flowers, and crafts from March through December. The North Davidson district is Charlotte's version of New York's SoHo and has been dubbed "NoDa" by locals; the district counts antique and boutique shops among its eclectic mix.
From an elegant dinner by candlelight to a rollicking night of food with Dixieland jazz, a variety of dining options is offered in the city. Visitors may chose from Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Egyptian, Arabian, Greek, French, Indian or Mexican cuisines, as well as "good old down-home" Southern cooking. Among the mid-South regional food specialties diners may seek in Charlotte are southern fried chicken, barbecue, country ham, and Brunswick stew—a mixture of chicken, pork, corn, tomatoes, beans, and hot peppers, as well as biscuits and hushpuppies, and pecan pie and banana pudding.
Visitor Information: Visit Charlotte, The Convention & Visitors Bureau, 500 S. College St., #300, Charlotte, NC 28202; telephone (704)334-2282; toll-free (800)722-1994; fax (704)342-3972; email info@visitcharlotte.com