Charlotte, North Carolina: Queen of the South

By: Joe Volz and Kate Bird Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-04-23 12:08:14.009405-04:00

Visitors to Charlotte will find a charming city that preserves the best of old fashioned southern hospitality, yet is progressive with a wide variety of cultural, entertainment, and sporting events. Charlotte has been deemed one of America's "most livable" cities by a number of organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Ladies Home Journal, and the American Foundation for the Blind.

The first settlers to the Charlotte area arrived in the 1730s and were greeted by friendly Catawba Indians. By 1740, a city gun manufacturer made the first Charlotte rifle. George Washington called this gun his favorite rifle, quite possibly using it to good advantage against the British troops in the Revolutionary War.

Center City

Visit Center City on foot or by a unique, rubber-wheeled Gold Rush trolley car takes passengers through urban neighborhoods, diverse communities, and business-flourishing downtown. Hop off the trolley and dine at fine restaurants, including ones that specialize in southern cooking. You can also browse through antique shops that line the streets.

Center City is home to numerous art galleries, including Clayworks at McColl Center for Visual Art and Cuvee Wine, plus the Art Gallery where you can listen to smooth jazz while sampling wines and admiring art.

Or, you can climb aboard Streetcar 85 (an electric trolley car built in the Queen City in 1927) and take a two-mile guided tour through the city’s center and its historic South End. The guide will show you Charlotte’s rise as an industrial and financial center and tell you about what is planned for the future while pointing out the past with historical sights along the way.

The Mint Museums of Art

Charlotte’s first art museum, the Mint Museum of Art, has a well-known collection of American fine art. The Mint Museum of Craft + Design showcases traditional and contemporary crafts in glass, ceramics, metal, fiber, and wood. Both museums feature special exhibits. Tickets are good for both museums if visited on the same day. The museums offer guided and self-guided tours.

Discovery Place

Discovery Place, also in Center City, is the South’s premier hands-on science and technology center. It features 300 exhibits, including a live rain forest. The Charlotte Observer OMNIMAX Theater surrounds viewers with larger than life figures on a giant screen enhanced by various intriguing sounds. Adults as well as children, will find the shows fascinating.

NASCAR Racing

Ninety percent of all NASCAR Nextel motor racing teams are headquartered within fifty miles of Charlotte. The greats of stock car racing such as the late great Dale Earnhardt were headquartered in the region. Now, Dale’s son "Junior" keeps up the racing tradition. And drivers like Earnhardt will be featured in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, designated, naturally, to open in Charlotte in 2010.

Lowe’s Motor Speedway is the home of the NASCAR Nextel Cup and the Bush and Craftsmen Truck series. For those who want something more active than watching a favorite stock car race, there’s the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Here, you test your driving ability on the Speedway’s famous 1.5 mile track or the Over the Wall Tour, which takes you behind the scenes of racing.

Charlotte is home to other sports as well. The National Football League team, the Carolina Panthers—contenders in Super Bowl XXXVIII and winners of the 2003 NFC Championship—play in Center City's Bank of America Stadium, an open-air, natural grass stadium.

Paramount’s Carowinds

This 105-acre up-to-date theme and water park is a short drive from Center City. Carowinds features 50 world-class family and thrill rides as well as movie-themed attractions and favorite characters from Nicktoons. Carowind’s 13-acre WaterWorks is a wonderland that’s perfect for children. The park opens in late March and closes in early November.