Lovely sculpture. Well done. Love the lighting at night. Thank you for investing in public art.read more

I've been to loads of art museums. I've seen some strange scupltures. Some, I "got" and some…read moreremained a complete puzzle. Grandiflora falls into the latter category. Two large round loops that look like stirrups at the intersection of Wendover and Randolph. What's the point? Do I feel more arty after stopping at this traffic light and looking over at the sculpture? Maybe the horn honking at me caused me to lose the imagery. I don't know. It's art. But it's weird.

Dead-center Charlotte, where Trade Street meets Tryon Street. Where North meets South and East…read moremeets West. Independence Square is the "Uptown" of Uptown Charlotte. It is the very center, the core of the Queen City. The Sculpture on each of the four corners are dedicated to Transportation, Future, Commerce and Industry. Try and see if you can recognize the face of the banker in Commerce - it's supposedly retired Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, but I don't see it. It's worth a stop if you're exploring Charlotte.

This is one of Charlotte's most idiosyncratic spots. Charlotteans claim that Mecklenburg county…read moredeclared independence from Britain in 1775, one year before them Yanks at the Continental Congress stole the idea. This original and 100% not-made-up declaration was lost in a house fire 25 years later. Honest. And we commemorate this with The Sculptures at Independence Square, a quartet of vaguely bigoted statues, one of which bares its magnificent bosom to the bustling city below. I cannot explain how her breasts are related to the rampant historical revisionism capitalizing on the success of the American Revolution, but it does make me smile to see such a statue thrust upon our conservative city.

In the modern age, Charlotte is a banking capital. Some say that after New York and San Francisco,…read morethe Queen City is the third biggest financial city in the United States. So it's interesting to learn that this isn't a new phenomenon and has older origins. The marker reads, "Branch U.S. Mint. Stood a few feet southwest. Operated 1837-61, 1867-1913. Razed, 1933, and rebuilt as art museum three miles east." This is marker number L-5 and it was erected in 1969 by the North Carolina Archives and Highway Departments. The 1799 discovery of a massive gold nugget in Cabarrus County sparked America's first gold rush, positioning North Carolina and especially Charlotte as a hub of gold production. With local mines like Barringer and Gold Hill fueling the economy, Charlotte secured a branch of the U.S. Mint in 1837, designed by William Strickland in the austere yet refined Federal style. The mint produced gold coins until the Civil War, when it was repurposed by the Confederacy, and later served as a U.S. Assay Office until 1913. Threatened by demolition, the building was saved and relocated to Eastover in the 1930s through the efforts of Mary Myers Dwelle and local citizens. [Review 1432 of 2025 - 4503 in North Carolina - 24983 overall]

I love the markers, Statues, the history I love the city of Charlotte, I want to go back.read more

Many not be aware of the city of Charlotte's history during the Revolutionary War. You know, the…read moreone with the British when we fought for independence? Well, right here in Uptown, a battle was fought with those British and caused the general to write in a letter back to London that Charlotte was "a hornet's nest of rebellion activity." The marker reads: "Cornwallis's army captured Charlotte after a fight here with Davie's troops, Sept. 26, 1780." Much more information is in the link above.

Located at the entrance of Elizabeth Park, this bronze statue is dedicated to a local hero that…read moremost Americans will not be familiar with. That person is Captain James Jack. He delivered the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to Congress in Philadephia. This document declaring independence from Great Britain was signed by citizens of Mecklenburg County (a county that includes Charlotte and nearby cities) on May 20, 1775. Notice that this predates the more well known 1776 Declaration of Independence signed by the 13 colonies. It's a nice statue and I learned an interesting bit of history by stumbling upon it.

No, it's not Paul Revere. It's Captain James Jack!…read more According to local legend, a band of local patriots met on May 19, 1775 and drafted a set of Resolves that outlined the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. The documents declared that the actions of the British government were intolerable and that Mecklenburg County was no longer under British rule. You'll note that this was BEFORE July 4, 1776. At the time, he was a tavern owner but Captain Jack courageously volunteered to take these powerful documents on the journey from Charlotte to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. His actions were a risk to everything, all for the rights and protections that we take for granted today. If he'd been captured, the documents would certainly have led to his death as a traitor. But he made it and this was no doubt a part of the impetus towards the famous Declaration of Independence that all those other people signed. This statue is in Elizabeth Park, at the corner of Kings Drive and 4th Street, not far from Uptown Charlotte. And the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery on South Tryon has a beer named in his honor. Try it, it's tasty stuff! Round number review! #6400!

The marker is on the east side of the Bank of America stadium, inside the gates. You'll be able to…read moresee the marker from outside but probably not read it unless you have a ticket for a game. It points out what was here before it was a ballpark. The marker has the same text on both sides. It reads, "Good Samaritan Hospital. 1891-1961. Site of the first independent private hospital in North Carolina built exclusively for African Americans. Established by Jane Renwick Smedberg Wilkes of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. One of the oldest black hospitals then in operation in the U.S." In 1961, ownership was transferred to the City of Charlotte and the facility was renamed Charlotte Community Hospital. It continued operating until 1982, when it was converted into a rest home. Ultimately, in 1996, the building was demolished to make way for the stadium. [Review 518 of 2025 - 4118 in North Carolina - 24079 overall]

This little landmark sits right in front of the Visitors Center and Museum, just steps from the…read moreMatthews Town Hall, and it quietly anchors the story of how this community grew up around the railroad. Standing here, you can almost picture the original depot as a practical outpost on a line that connected small farming settlements to the wider region, long before Matthews became the busy suburban town it is today. The marker makes the point succinctly: "Established by 1875 on Carolina Central Railway. Incorporated as Town of Matthews in 1879. Depot later served Seaboard Air Line RR. Closed by 1967." It is number 35 and was erected in 2024 by the William C. Pomeroy Foundation, part of their effort to highlight the transportation roots that shaped towns like this. What makes the spot appealing is how easy it is to take it in at your own pace. The museum and town offices give the area a civic calm, and the marker feels like a small reminder that Matthews didn't begin with boutiques and restaurants but with a rail line that made the place viable in the first place, a simple wooden depot that helped define the town's early identity. There is parking nearby, so it's an easy stop whether you're exploring downtown or just passing through, and it adds a nice bit of context to the streets that have grown up around it. While the depot itself is now a museum, coincidentally a freight train went by as I was visiting. That was fun to watch. [Review 165 of 2026 - 4553 in North Carolina - 25355 overall]

If you've spent time driving around Charlotte, you recognize both names "Grier" and "Rea." Read…read moreRoad extends though some of the most established and high end parts of South Charlotte from where it becomes Colony Road in the Old Providence neighborhood and extending past the massive Calvary Church and Piper Glen before it continues through Blakely and becomes Marcin School Road. Isaac Grier was born in 1776 and arrived in the Charlotte area in 1804 to serve the Sardis and Providence Associate Reformed Presbyterian churches. In 1808 he married Isabella Harris of the Steele Creek community. Soon afterward he purchased roughly 102 acres along what is now Rea Road and built the Federal‑style house that survives today as the Grier‑Rea House, located near Providence Road. The home was positioned between the two churches he served, and it became the center of a growing farm that expanded to nearly 400 acres by the 1840s. The property was worked by enslaved laborers; the 1820 census recorded seven enslaved people, and his 1843 will bequeathed more than a dozen to family members. The Grier‑Rea House itself carries its own historical recognition. A state marker notes that it was built around 1815 by Isaac and Isabella Grier and later purchased by the Rea family in 1872. It stands today as one of the oldest surviving structures in the Providence corridor and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Grier died in 1843 and is buried at Sardis Presbyterian Church. His tombstone describes him as a faithful minister who served the united congregations of Sardis and Steele Creek from 1804 until shortly before his death. His son, Robert Calvin Grier, inherited the homestead and followed him into the ministry, eventually becoming president of Erskine College. The home is private property and the sign is on a busy stretch of Providence Road that is without a safe place to stop. [Review 179 of 2026 - 4564 in North Carolina - 25368 overall]