Charlotte History
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Cemetery Preservation Project Honors Historic Black Church in Grier Heights
In a wooded area behind the Wallace Terrace Apartments in east Charlotte’s Grier Heights neighborhood, there’s a man who’s been working on a grave for weeks. Now 72 years old, Wayne Johnson has been coming to the grave of his great-grandfather Nelson Walker since he was 5 years old, when…
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Ransom Hunter Park Opening Honors Local Black History Icon After Years-Long Effort
For Eric Wilson, the grand opening of Ransom Hunter Park in Mount Holly will be more than a ribbon cutting; it will mark the completion of an effort that he undertook in 2008 to honor his great-grandfather, who was born into slavery only to become one of the area’s most…
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What Was the Edenton Tea Party?
Many American schoolchildren learn at a young age the relevance of tea to the American Revolution, specifically in relation to the Boston Tea Party, in which colonists dumped hundreds of chests full of tea into the Boston Harbor to protest the recently passed Tea Act of 1773. This protest was…
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The True Charlotte Crime Story Behind Channing Tatum’s New ‘Roofman’ Movie
Paramount and Miramax on Wednesday released a trailer for Channing Tatum’s latest movie, Roofman, which was shot in Charlotte last fall and is based on the true local exploits of an infamous but benevolent burglar who operated in the area after escaping from prison in 2004. It was filmed on…
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Badin Lake’s Forgotten History Includes a Missing WWII Bomber
On June 8, 1944, Mary Elizabeth McDaniel rushed out of her home in Palmerville, near Badin Lake’s southern shore, and searched the sky. It was two days after the historic D-Day invasion of Normandy and Mary Elizabeth was looking for her husband, Second Lt. Charles McDaniel, US Marine Corps, whom…
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The Franks House Takes Its Place in Charlotte History
History persists on the edge of Uptown. Mere blocks from the roaring traffic of John Belk Freeway, the single-story frame bungalow at 350 W. Dunbar St. is a testament to a vanished world. The Franks House, located behind the United House of Prayer along the upper edge of South End,…
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Meck Dec 250 Exhibit Explores Nuanced History, Impact of Debated Document
If you hear cannons erupt in the Uptown area on Tuesday afternoon, a second revolution isn’t underway. The noise is coming from the official celebration of the Meck Dec 250, marking 250 years since the reported signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Allegedly signed on May 20, 1775, predating…
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Tracing History from Charlotte’s First Brewer to Olde Mecklenburg Brewery
To paraphrase humorist and legendary lager imbiber Mark Twain, rumors of the Charlotte craft beer scene’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. This is not to say that the industry hasn’t been weathering the winds of change. In recent years, Charlotte’s craft beer boom, which saw nearly 20 independent breweries open…
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New Project Aims to Revitalize Catawba Avenue in Cornelius
Cain Center for the Arts this week announced a new revitalization effort to preserve the history of downtown Cornelius and enhance north Mecklenburg’s cultural landscape. The project, which the Cain Center has dubbed “Sculpting the Future,” will repurpose two historic homes on Catawba Avenue to serve as new civic spaces…
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Charlotte Museum of History Secures Grant for 1774 Rock House Restoration
The Charlotte Museum of History will receive a $444,500 grant to complete restoration work on the 1774 Rock House, the oldest home in Mecklenburg County, the museum announced in a press release on Wednesday. The grant comes from the National Park Service (NPS), which recently awarded $10 million in funding…
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Charlotte Gem Preservation Awards Honor Local Adaptive Reuse
The Charlotte Museum of History held a ceremony at The Revelry at Camp North End on Thursday night to recognize outstanding contributions to historic preservation in the Charlotte region with its annual Charlotte Gem Preservation Awards. Also serving as the museum’s premier fundraising event, the awards ceremony aims to encourage…
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Civil Rights Trail Podcast Series Launches with Beginnings in Charlotte
Visit NC on Tuesday announced the launch of a new three-episode podcast series that acts as a companion piece to the NC Civil Rights Trail, aiming to amplify the student-led protest story that anchors the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro. Visit NC released all three episodes of…
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Jason Tapp of Spooky CLT Talks Latta Arcade, Headstones and Haunted Hotels
It’s been about five years since Jason Tapp launched Spooky CLT, a website and social media platform that focuses on a mix of lighthearted tales of local hauntings and bona-fide Charlotte history. In that time, he’s worked to share stories, hosting events at breweries and bars around town to discuss…
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NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green Teaches Curating Your Own Past
People revere museums and exhibits because of the history and knowledge surrounding them and the way those institutions captivate them, but few people realize that they can house their own museums. North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green hopes to change that. “If we walk through our homes, all our…
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Family of Mount Holly’s Ransom Hunter Fights to Preserve Legacy
As a boy growing up in Mount Holly in the 1960s, Eric Wilson knew firsthand that each thundercloud had a silver lining. His grandmother, Mena Hunter Wilson, wasn’t fond of storms, so she would call down to Eric’s parents whenever one began to roll in. “She would always call my…
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Seven Jars Distillery’s Bootlegging Roots Still Drive the Business
With bars and breweries on every corner of Charlotte today, it’s easy to forget that a century ago, the city was in the midst of Prohibition. The state of North Carolina was following a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages, though moonshiners and…
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