Charlotte History, North Carolina

 The Charlotte area was first settled during 1755.  Thomas Polk was traveling with the family of Thomas Spratt and stopped there to build his house at a Native American intersection for two trading paths between Catawba River and Yadkin River.  One of these paths went from north to south and was a part of the famous Great Wagon Road.  The other path went from west to east.  During the early years of the 1700s, the Great Wagon Road was the leader of German and Scot-Irish settlers to North Carolina from Pennsylvania.  Within only the first few 10 years after the Polks settled, the area began to grow into a community that was officially incorporated as the town of Charlotte in 1768.  The crossroads then turned into the heart of what we know as Uptown Charlotte today.

 Surveyors began to mark off new streets for the town in 1770 for further development in the future.  Both Charlotte and the county are named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who was the German wife of King George III.  They named the town after her hoping that it would win them some favor among the crown, however, the tension between Charlotte and the United Kingdom only got worse.  In 1775, on May 20th, the townsmen were said to have signed a proclamation, which is now known to be the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which was copied and sent to the Continental Congress one year later but never arrived.  The declaration's date appears on the state flag of North Carolina.  Eleven days after that, the same men met together in order to endorse and create the Mecklenburg Resolves, which were laws for governing the new and independent town. 

During the Revolutionary War, Charlotte was the encampment site for both the British and American armies.  The town earned the nickname of Hornet's Nest during some skirmishes between Charlotteans and British troops, of which came from Lord General Charles Cornwallis.  This legacy continues to endure today in some of the city's landmarks, including the former Charlotte Hornets, which are the city's former NBA team.  The first boom of Charlotte came following the Civil War, with a processing center for cotton and a hub for a railroad. 

 Many years later, in 1989, the city was struck with destruction from Hurricane Hugo.  There was massive property damage, and many people went without power for weeks.  Cleaning up the city took months to finish.  Since Charlotte is a little more than 200 miles inland, many residents who lived in the Carolinas went to Charlotte to wait out the storm.  In 1989, the city was unprepared when the storm hit, because no one anticipated a hurricane to go that far inland.

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• Charlotte at night
  review by mohds2 posted more then 30 days ago
  The city of Charlotte is amajor city in North Carolina. It's has been gifted a lovely nickname the Queen City and truthfully the metropolis is the Queen of nightlife in Northern Carolina. From clubs to pubs and bars, nightlife in the city of Charlotte has amazing things to present to each taste....
• What to know about Charlotte
  review by mohds2 posted more then 30 days ago
  The first colonial settlers in this region were the German, the Scotch, the English and the French Huguenot. The area, that is at the present called Charlotte, encountered a welcoming nonviolent native tribe the Catawba. It had a very fertile soil brought by additional settlers and by the year...

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• The Billy Graham Library
  travel tip by Belinda posted more then 30 days ago
  Inspired by and dedicated to an influential man, The Billy Graham Library is about God's love, appreciation and mercy. The library is part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and can leave you breathless. The many books,...
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  travel tip by erato posted more then 30 days ago
  The greatest family-friendly destination is definitely the US National Whitewater Center located a few miles from Charlotte. There are several trips that you can choose from, depending on how much you weigh or how old you are. There are...
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  Celebrate Black History Month by participating in the Annual Charlotte Black/African-American Heritage Tour and Pilgrimage in February -- Black History Month. Additional information @ http://www.queencitytours...

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