WHAT TO SEE IN CHARLOTTE, NC

Jack plays the 7th Street Station where 63 light panels have different musical tones -- or giggles -- when you touch them. I did them all walking around the block square building getting more excited at each panel. Some have different sounds when you touch them twice. There was some sort of puzzle that was too obscure for me but who needed more stimulation ? This was worth a trip to Charlotte.

Settlers Cemetery with ante-bellum Presbyterian Church and modern office building -- a three-century landscape in the heart of uptown.

Public art is everywhere. I guess it helps having the country's two biggest banks in town. North Carolina as a whole seems to have figure out the value of investing cultural dollars. Charlotte's impressive public art walking tour includes more than 20 locations. The “Continuum” fresco by North Carolina artist Ben Long has 1047 feet of painted surface reflected in a mirrored strip under the Transamerica open air rotunda.

Statues at the Square are four heroic bronzes perched on concrete pillars in the heart of uptown: a railroad worker, a textile workere, a miner and a mother and child -- representing Charlotte.

 

 

Giant sculptures are outside ImaginOn combination children’s library/theater.

 

 

For official information and all you need to know to visit contact www.visitcharlotte.com

WHERE TO EAT IN CHARLOTTE

On an appetizer crawl of uptown, 1st place went to Tin Tin Box and Noodles, a tiny Japanese carry-out and sake bar with the best pan-fried pork dumplings ever. I had to drag Jack away so we could keep crawling. He wanted to stay and keep eating the "ears."

Merts Heart and Soul in the midst of conference hotel/ Civic Center territory has blues and jazz on the sound system, down home waitresses and well-spiced dishes not for the plain of taste. I had a Gullah favorite, juicy fried catfish with an orange creole sauce and sticky Charleston red rice. Jack chose meaty beef ribs broiled with a spicy, vinegar based barbecue sauce.

Price’s Chicken Coop, universally recognized as the best Southern fried chicken in town, moist and slightly greasy with an understated taste. The 20-person line into the street the day I visited is considered “slow time.”

 

WHAT TO DO IN CHARLOTTE

Reed’s Gold Mine is a National Historic Landmark operated as a state historic park with a fascinating indoor exhibit (what is more entrancing then gold?) outdoor trails with views of early pits labeled John Reed’s potato patch, and an hour guided tour of the meticulously restored gold mine tunnels. Found in 1799, it marked America’s first gold rush and contributed to Charlotte’s getting one of the first mints and it subsequent development as a major financial center -- now second only to New York City.

We were captivated by the exhibits in the Levine Museum of the New South showcasing ideas and the evolution of post-Civil War Charlotte. Cotton, mills, towels -- all shown with background sound of clacking mills.

Mint Museum of Craft and Design is filled with accessible art. We loved the Bakelite exhibit.