This is such a quaint little village! I spent an afternoon here. The drive up from Charlotte is…read morebeautiful once you're off the main highway. Got lunch at fat Mack's and hopped in and out of the gift shops. They do so much every month, check out their website for goings on. I know this upcoming weekend will be founders weekend with a lot of vendors and food trucks, along with a parade. They decorate the village for Christmas, and the first 3 weekends in December have Santa and the Grinch on site. Seems like there's something for everyone here. We will be back to check out the trails on the 70 acre park.

My family and I drove from Waxhaw to Gold Hill on a Thursday only to be met with disappointment…read more Most of the shops in this little town are only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Dang, bad timing on our part. We still enjoyed walkin around town and seeing what we could see from the outside. I know my grandma really wanted to see the shops, though. All we were able to do is see the park which was open. That was pretty cool. There is an old jail there when you first drive in. And a bunch of old mining equipment. The coolest part of a crevice in the rock. There is a small set of stairs which goes down deep enough to see it. I don't know why that as so cool but it was. Since we wanted to see the shops and looked to see that they should be open on Sundays, we came back just a couple of days after we first came to Gold Hill. Struck out again! The shops still weren't open. It was a little early (11:00ish AM). We were hoping and expecting at least a couple of the shops to be open. What a bummer that they were not. Maybe the fall is off season and the summer would be better. I don't know. But we had just wasted another trip trying to see this place and ALL that is has to offer. So, 3 stars for now based on what we did see. Maybe if I can come back and go into some of the shops some time then I can reevaluate and increase the star rating.

Located in one of the more upper crust neighborhoods of a town that's already upper crust itself,…read morethis sculpture is definitely political. The statue depicts a Jesus as a homeless vagrant sleeping on a park bench. Huddled under a blanket with his face and hands obscured, only the crucifixion wounds on his uncovered feet give him away. The bronze statue was purchased for $22,000 as a memorial for a parishioner, Kate McIntyre, who loved public art. The rector of this liberal, inclusive church is the Rev. David Buck, a 65-year-old Baptist-turned-Episcopalian who seems not at all averse to the controversy, the double takes and the discussion the statue has provoked. "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me." -Matthew 25:40 [Review 13405 overall, 724 of 2020.]

This is homeless Jesus I guess they have a lot of these because we have one of these in my city…read morethat I live in. So we were downtown exploring the area we came across another homeless Jesus. I guess the meaning of this is to love everyone and just respect people no matter who or what they are.

On a quiet Sunday morning, the Union-Market Passageway in Concord felt anything but spooky, which…read moreis always a pleasant surprise because some alleys can definitely give off that vibe. But here, the white painted brick and the bright artworks made it feel open and welcoming. The murals tell the story of Concord's industrial past and how those early mills and factories shaped the city. Knowing the installation was completed in 2013 by artist Sharon Dowell made me appreciate how intentional the space feels. One of the captions, "This image shows the original Cabarrus County Courthouse, built after the Town of Concord was laid out in 1796 on a 26 acre tract of land called 'Pea Ridge' near the old Indian Trading Path. It was a modest frame structure 30 feet wide and 30 feet long with a 15 foot hip roof. It was constructed in the intersection of Union and Corbin (now Corban) Streets." Walking through with no one else around, it was easy to slow down and take in the colors and the way the artwork is framed against the clean brick walls, and the passageway felt more like a small outdoor art gallery than a cut through. It is a simple spot but a charming one, and on a calm Sunday morning, it added a nice bit of character to my walk through downtown Concord. [Review 665 of 2026 - 4753 in North Carolina - 25846 overall]

Union-Market Passageway is not just another utilitarian alleyway in an historic downtown district…read more It's historical and artsy too! located between 48 and 46 South Union the pedestrian alley is currently adorned with works by Charlotte artist Sharon Dowell titled "Momentous- A Timeline of History Shaping Sites of Concord" it includes several large pieces installed on the wall depicting places and periods significant to life in the early days of the greater Concord metro. small plaques accompany the panels providing background and context for the illustrations.

As I was walking along Union Street super early on a quiet Sunday morning, making my way from the…read morehistoric courthouse towards my eventual stop for coffee, I came across "Dawn" by Sam Spiczka, one of the city's public arts commission installations, and it hit just right for that hour of the day. The piece rises in this organic, skeletal curve that feels both industrial and natural at the same time. Something about the upward reach immediately made me think of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami with its giant hand stretching toward the sky, not in a direct way but in that shared sense of striving and tenson. Standing here with no one else around, the street still waking up and most of the shops still closed, the sculpture felt like a quiet marker of transition, the kind of artwork that is a reward for being out before the world gets noisy. [Review 664 of 2026 - 4752 in North Carolina - 25845 overall]

Concord was founded in 1796 after local leaders finally reached, well, concord over where the…read morecounty seat should go, and the name stuck from the very beginning. The town grew around its courthouse square, and the historic Cabarrus County Courthouse that stands today dates to 1876 after an earlier building was lost to fire. Designed by GSH Appleget, it is a Victorian era mix of Second Empire and Italianate details with a tall clock tower that still anchors downtown even though it no longer handles court business. Downtown itself is quaint and on a quiet Sunday morning, it feels almost paused in time. I was passing through to visit the courthouse and ended up staying for coffee and a slow walk along Union Street where there are sculptures tucked along the sidewalks that make the whole stretch feel playful and welcoming. Too early for most of the restaurants, which do have streetside seating set up. It is all adorable and fun and i really enjoyed my time here. [Review 668 of 2026 - 4755 in North Carolina - 25849 overall]

Double Star by Charles Pilkey was one of those little surprises that makes wandering around…read moreSalisbury worth the detour, sitting there with no plaque or explanation and just quietly doing its thing until you finally look it up on the city's sculpture show page. Once you know the title, the whole form makes sense, the way the two twisting shapes lean toward each other like they're locked in a slow orbit, and Pilkey's interest in science and natural forces comes through in how the piece feels both geometric and fluid at the same time. The caption on the website says, "Double Star represents a binary star system, two stars orbiting a common gravitational center. We all lead such busy lives. Sometimes we forget to pause and take in the beauty and mystery of a night sky." and that line really does frame the sculpture perfectly because it has that quiet, contemplative pull if you give it a moment. While I liked most is how understated the whole installation is, tucked into an ordinary spot where you could easily walk past it, and yet once you know what Pilkey intended, you start to see the motion and the calm built into the metal. It becomes this small reminder to slow down, to look a little closer, and to let something unexpected shift your perspective for a minute. Salisbury has a knack for placing art exactly where it can do that. The piece doesn't shout for attention but it rewards anyone who stops long enough to take it in, turning a simple corner of town into a brief pause in the day. [Review 657 of 2026 - 4745 in North Carolina - 25838 overall]

The George Clinton Mural is located in Kannapolis, NC, aka Towel City. The city got its name as it…read morewas the leading manufacturer of textiles, particularly towels. Clinton was born in an outhouse in a segregated, poverty-stricken area in Kannapolis. This mural is #28 in the series that Scott Nurkin has been painting for the North Carolina Musicians Mural Trail. It was completed in October/November 2025. Nurkin captures Clinton in a massive close-up with such detail that his eyes follow you. It feels as if George Clinton is looking right at you, with a psychedelic, cosmic energy. It is located on the side of Towel City Tavern in the West Avenue District. There was plenty of parking the day I was there, but I wasn't there near game time at the baseball stadium. The location of the mural is symbolic and fitting, as Clinton's dad worked at Cannon Mills, not too far from the mural, removing cotton from 500-lb bales. The Opening Room was the only place where Black people could work at the company. The job was physically demanding under the harsh conditions of the heat and suffocating dust. George Clinton was born in Kannapolis, NC, although he grew up in Plainfield, NJ. George Jr. was the oldest of nine children. George's mother, Julia, was a house cleaner and babysitter and helped spark Clinton's creative side. His upbringing came out in his songs. She inspired his funk with her "funky faces" from being part of Louis Jordan's music. She also sang to him. He witnessed her resilience in the face of segregation in the South. George Sr. was a gospel singer whose music and harmonies inspired George Jr., and Sr.'s work ethic gave Jr. the drive to work just as hard. George Clinton ran a barber shop for 10 years and started a doo wop group called the Parliaments. The group moved to Detroit to audition for Motown. Clinton was a songwriter and wrote songs for the Jackson 5 and the Supremes. His biggest hit for the Parliament was "(I wanna) Testify". After the label that had the Parliament went under, Clinton created a new group called Funkadelic. Both bands overlapped for a time, sharing members and becoming known as Parliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk). The sound was a mix of psychedelic rock and R&B, marking the start of the funk sound. He later started a solo career and has collaborated with Bootsy Collins, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. In 1997, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009, he was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, he and Parliament-Funkadelic received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2024. In 2025 was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The mural serves as a reminder that the "Godfather of Funk" began his journey in Towel City.

There's another neat statue we found while we were exploring downtown area. I really enjoy looking…read moreat all the statues and finding things to review and take photos of and this one was pretty cool. I would definitely say go check it out.

This is an interesting piece of artwork. I'm not really sure what the artist is trying to "say"…read morehere other than this is a clever bunch of welding. It was the first project by the Davidson Public Art Commission and is located in the post office plaza.. The plaque at its base has three parts, "Dedicated to Kate MacIntyre for her vision of public art in Davidson." and "A Bouquet for Davidson by Andrew Dunnill, April 25, 2009" and "This project was mad possible with funding by The Arts & Science Council, The North Carolina Arts Council, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Town of Davidson." [Review 12633 overall, 2425 of 2019.]