HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Building on natural assets: How Burke County is capitalizing on recreation
Rural communities around Charlotte are looking for new economic engines. Urban residents are looking for more outdoor recreation. That provides an opportunity for communities around Charlotte to use their public lands and waterways to fuel growth. And two areas in the region that were ahead of the curve offer lessons for other communities trying to […]
Farms and sprawl: Conservationists worry they’re losing the battle
About 45 minutes from Charlotte in neighboring Cabarrus County, the owners of 1,000-acre Porter Farms raise chickens and pigs on part of their land. The chickens are sold to Tysons Foods, and the pigs become sausage, pork chops and spare ribs for Smithfield Foods. Another part of the property is a cattle farm, and since […]
Musical heritage: Meet Earl Scruggs and Don Gibson
Earl Scruggs (1924-2012) Earl Scruggs in 2005. Photo used under Creative Commons license. He was 10 years old on the family farm in Flint Hill — about eight miles from the former county courthouse in Shelby that now bears his name — when Earl Scruggs and older brother Horace got into a “fuss.” After it […]
Charlotte keeps losing bits of itself as the city grows
Is there anything more “Charlotte” than bemoaning the closure of local icons? In one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., with rising rents and rapid changes in long-established neighborhoods, there’s sure to be a certain amount of churn in the local business scene. Angst and nostalgia are certain to follow. But as it grows […]
Five 2019 Historic Preservation Awards winners announced in Charlotte
Charlotteans often lament how many old buildings here have been torn down, but there are still structures worth saving, along with groups and developers willing to put in the work.
On Thursday, the Charlotte Museum of History announced the winners of its 2019 Historic Preservation Awards. The five honorees, from 27 nominations, include a historic high school gym, a hip, repurposed mill, and historic houses.
Blending the old and the new at Camp North End
The cluster of old factory buildings, warehouses, missile assembly and munition storage facilities just north of uptown have long glimmered with possibility – if you could look beyond the dingy facades and faded, rusty interiors. Now, more of that possibility is becoming a reality at Camp North End, on a nearly 80-acre triangle of land […]
Charlotte’s torn down a lot of old buildings. But one type has staying power.
Breweries, apartments, hip food halls, creative offices, coworking spaces: Charlotte developers keep finding new uses for the city’s old mills. As a post-war, Sunbelt boomtown, Charlotte has garnered a reputation for tearing down its old buildings and replacing them with sterile plaques to make way for the city’s glittering new skyline. But while many once-grand […]
Why do old places matter? A Mecklenburg native explores the question.
Reading the essays in Tom Mayes’ book, Why Old Places Matter: How Historic Places Affect Our Identity and Well-Being, one comes away with the sense that he’s not only seeking to understand the innate pull of old places that compels us to protect our historic fabric, but also appealing to a new generation of preservationists […]
Should Charlotte do more to preserve its history?
There’s been a lot of talk lately in Charlotte about the value of older buildings and what we should do to save them, spurred by the Excelsior Club’s possible sale and demolition. For a fast-growing city with leaders who have long been spurred by the promise of more development and an ever-bigger, ever-shinier skyline, it […]