It's been a while since I spotted a North Carolina historical marker and I really have to give…read moreprops to the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Sure, the sign is quite limited in the information it provides but the website has an entire essay of explanation. The marker reads, "Congressman from North Carolina, 1811-1817. Moved to Alabama where he was governor, 1821-1825, and United States Senator. Born 2 miles southwest." Online, there is much more information. "Israel Pickens was one amongst the stream of North Carolinians who migrated to the newly opened Alabama and Mississippi territories in the 1810s and 1820s. With experience as a legislator and congressman in his native state, Pickens quickly rose to political prominence in Alabama, serving as the state's governor from 1821 to 1825." "Pickens was Alabama's third governor. During his tenure he completed the organization of state government initiated by his predecessors... In February 1826, a few months after leaving the governor's seat, Pickens was appointed to the U.S. Senate, where he served until November." Quite the public servant, Mister Pickens. Thank you. There is parking in the adjacent gas station if you want to try to see the marker close up. [Review 17308 overall - 3295 in North Carolina - 826 of 2022.]

This marker alongside the road denotes a historic school that sadly no longer exists. This is a…read morecounty marker rather than a state one, so it's not in the state database. The marker reads, "Site of Plato Price School 1915-1966. Mecklenburg County school for African Americans, Greads 1-12. Notable attendees included Philip P. Berry, Chairman of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, and U.S. Congressman Mel Watt. Erected September 2006." Congressman Watt was my Congressman for a period of time until he stepped down to take an administrative role in the Obama administration. [Review 12963 overall, 279 of 2020.]

This marker recalls a local who was Governor of North Carolina for a period and also served in the…read moreAmerican Revolution. The marker reads, "Governor, 1805-07. Was a surgeon in Revolutionary War; later Congressman. Birthplace was 3 mi. N." As is customary with the North Carolina markers, there is more information online. "Nathaniel Alexander, who served as a surgeon in the American Revolution, lived near Harrisburg in a house on the present site of Lowes (Charlotte) Motor Speedway. Born on March 5, 1756, in present-day Mecklenburg (then Anson) County, he was the eldest of six children born to Moses Alexander and the former Sarah Taylor." "Nathaniel Alexander practiced medicine for several years in South Carolina following the Revolution, but then returned to his native Mecklenburg County. He was active in Charlotte in establishing local Masonic lodge. He represented the county in the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1797 and in the upper house in 1801 and 1802, affiliating himself in the legislature with the ascendant Jeffersonian Republicans. He was then elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1803 to 1805. He resigned from Congress in November of 1805, having been elected by the state legislature to replace James Turner as governor. Reelected without opposition in 1806, he served as chief executive for just over two years." "He died in Salisbury on March 6, 1808, less than a year after leaving office, and was buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte." [Review 13188 overall, 505 of 2020.]

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.

This simple marker in Belmont NC recalls a local hero of the Revolutionary War. The marker stands…read morein front of the Belmont Historical Society. It reads, "Major in Revolution, leader of Lincoln County forces at the battle of Kings Mountain, 1780, where he was killed. His home stood nearby." Online, there is more information. "Born in 1755 along the south fork of the Catawba River in Mecklenburg County, William Chronicle received little in the way of a formal education. His father, William, Sr., a farmer and deer hunter, supported the Regulator movement. William Sr. adamantly opposed the renaming of their area Tryon County in honor of Governor William Tryon in 1768." "For several weeks, Ferguson's force of Tory militia and British provincials had ravaged the western sections of North and South Carolina. In response, Whig militia from the region, joined by men from present-day Tennessee known as the "Overmountain Men" pursued Ferguson until they finally surrounded his forces at King's Mountain on October 7, 1780." "Beginning in the early morning hours, the Whigs assaulted Ferguson's position from all sides. One of the earliest casualties was Major Chronicle. Twenty-five years old, Chronicle was shot and killed while leading one of the initial charges. Reports place him only twenty-five feet from the British position when he died." [Review 12583 overall, 2375 of 2019.]

Very historical and interesting for sure, lots of older souls to see. Hope you get the same resultread more

We just walked through the cemetery to check it out very hard to read some of the tombstones. Also,…read moreI guess if you go on a tour, you get to know a little bit more information.

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]

This marker is visible near the front gates of the prestigious University of North Carolina at…read moreCharlotte. It reads simply: Established 1946; became Charlotte College, 1949. Moved here 1961. Campus of The University of North Carolina since 1965. From the historical marker web page: The "Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944," better known as the "GI Bill of Rights" was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. With unprecedented unemployment in postwar America, many veterans took advantage of the educational opportunities offered by the G. I. Bill, which included the payment of tuition, as well as expenses for books, fees, and subsistence. Soon the enrollment demands at colleges and universities surpassed available slots for admission. Educational facilities sprang up across the country. One such institution opened in Charlotte in 1946. Known as the Charlotte Center, it offered evening classes at the old Central High School building near downtown. In 1947 Bonnie E. Cone, a mathematics teacher, was asked to direct the center. Although the demand for such centers had decreased by 1949, Charlotte's leaders recognized the importance of having a state-supported college in town and convinced legislators to transform the center into Charlotte College, a two-year institution. Cone became the first president of the college. In 1957 Charlotte College acquired land in northeast Mecklenburg County for a larger, permanent campus, and the following year it became a part of the state's community college system. The first buildings on the new campus were opened to students in 1961. In 1963, as part of a statewide expansion, the legislature voted to make Charlotte College a branch of the newly-created University of North Carolina system. The formal transition and name change occurred July 1, 1965, when it became the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dean W. Colvard was selected to be the first chancellor.