This simple granite memorial pays tribute to an important heroine of the American Revolution…read more Largely forgotten, which is shameful. The former McDowell estate here on South Tryon has since been subdivided into a number of different housing developments. Their 200 year old house was since demolished as well to make way for "progress." https://theoldhouselife.com/2018/04/16/demolished-to-make-room-for-townhomes-charlotte-nc/ The stone reads, "1780. In memoriam. Jane Parks. Wife of Captain John McDowell who rode 10 perilous miles to notify American camp of British evacuation of Charlotte. Erected by Mecklenburg Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution." Online, there is more information. "In October of 1780 when a detachment of British troops, that were stationed in Charlotte, were pulling out and heading to South Carolina. At this time in the American Revolution, Savannah and Charleston had already surrendered to British control so it's anyone's guess where these forces were headed (Charlotte was always hostile to the British forces, which is why Cornwallis referred to it as a hornet's nest). As they were heading south, the ran across the McDowell plantation." "After they left, Jane Parks McDowell rode ten miles on horseback, with her baby, to alert the Continental troops that the British were evacuating Charlotte, NC. This allowed them to saddle up, head them off for an attack. Long considered the female Paul Revere. Her house stood quietly and unnoticed for over a century until BNA Homes decided townhomes needed to built on the 16 acres where the house stood." #InternationalWomensDay [Review 14764 overall, 265 of 2021, number 2815 in North Carolina.]

This marker is located along New Hope Road a short distance north of the Interstate and in front of…read morethe Lutheran Chapel Cemetery. There is parking in the cemetery parking lot to stop and read the marker. It has the same text on both sides, reading "Textile mill owner, bank executive, philanthropist, and benefactor of present Lenoir-Rhyne University in 1923. Grave is nearby." Online, there is more information. "Daniel Efird Rhyne, business leader and benefactor of Lenoir-Rhyne College, was born on February 8, 1852, to Moses H. and Margaret Hoffman Rhyne. He grew up on a farm near Woodlawn in what was then Lincoln County, now Gaston. He eventually had a hand in renaming his hometown Mount Holly, after the textile town of the same name in New Jersey. Rhyne attended Lincoln County's common schools and, from 1871 to 1872, he pursued studies at North Carolina College, a Lutheran institution in Mount Pleasant. "Rhyne entered the cotton mill industry at age twenty-two when he and his brother Abel built the Mount Holly Cotton Mill at the confluence of Dutchman's Creek and the Catawba River. In 1887 he and his brother-in-law J. A. Abernethy erected the Laboratory Cotton Mill just south of Lincolnton, and then later the Daniel and Wampum Mills in Lincolnton. Their ventures are credited with bringing industry, business, and a population explosion to Lincoln County. Aside from cotton mills, Rhyne also owned and operated Lincoln Lithia Inn, a summer resort with celebrated healthful spring water, and he was an investor in the Piedmont Wagon Company in Hickory. His property holdings in western counties were extensive and he was an officer and substantial stockholder in several mills and banks. "Rhyne enjoyed sharing his wealth with Lutheran churches in areas near to his home and work. He is credited with significant gifts to at least twelve churches in Lincoln, Gaston, Iredell, Mecklenburg, and other nearby counties. Daniel Rhyne made generous contributions to the Lutheran-run Lenoir College in Hickory. In 1923, the school changed its name to Lenoir-Rhyne College in honor of their benefactor. Rhyne died on February 25, 1933 and was buried in the cemetery at Lutheran Chapel Church in Gastonia." [Review 186 of 2025 - 4093 in North Carolina - 23750 overall]

Most folks don't know why Charlotte's basketball team are called the Hornets or why the name…read more"hornets" matters so much to our fair city. I knew the story but I didn't know that there was an actual place that it tied back to. It's here off Beatties Ford Road north of Uptown. Back in 1780, the British Army occupied Charlotte under General Charles Cornwallis. Short on provisions themselves, they came to believe that the colonials had stored food and such at McIntyre's Farm near Charlotte. A foraging party of over 400 British troops was sent to the farm. And instead of being successful, they were routed by 14 (yes, fourteen) patriots under the command of Colonel George Graham. Known as the "Battle of the Bees," as the patriots defense was aided by the British troops having disturbed a hornets nest. Later, Cornwallis is alleged to have written a letter back to London asking for reinforcements. He complainted that Charlotte was "that hot-bed of rebellion, that hornet's nest, as his lordship afterwards named it." There is a marker, a dirt area for parking and a picnic bench. The marker is close to the road. There seems to be no trace of the original farm remaining. So there you go. Buzz City, indeed. [Review 12970 overall, 286 of 2020.]

This marker recalls an important local hero and citizen, responsible for much of what we have today…read morein Charlotte. The marker is not from the state marker database. It reads, "Richard Barry, 1726-1801), Tanner, Legislator, Signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Co-founder of Hopewell Presbyterian Church, City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Superior Court. He recovered General William L. Davidson's body after the Cowan's Ford Battle and brought him to Hopewell Church for burial. Family homesite approximately 0.2 miles east." He is listed as one of Mecklenburg County's first magistrates. On February 6, 1764, he was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives from Mecklenburg County. On November 7, 1768, by an Act of the General Assembly, Richard Barry was appointed as a member of a group of trustees and directors who were charged with the responsibilty of planning and building the town of Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to his community and business life, Barry was an active member of the Hopewell Presbyterian Church and is buried in its cemetery. [Review 13394 overall, 713 of 2020.]

This marker is on a tall pole outside the guard's shack that is at the entrance to the university…read more There is no parking here but I was able to briefly stop to read the marker and the guard didn't mind though he probably thought I was crazy. Like most North Carolina markers, the text on the marker is brief. It reads, "Est. in 1867 as Biddle Memorial Institute for freedmen. Became a university, 1877. Present name adopted in 1923." Online, there is more information. "Established in 1867 by the Presbyterian Church, modern-day Johnson C. Smith University was known from that year until 1876 as Biddle Memorial Institute. Samuel C. Alexander, minister at Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, took a lead role in the establishment of a school "for the education of preachers and teachers among the ex-slaves, realizing that only in this way could they be fitted for Christian citizenship." Around 3,000 former slaves lived in Mecklenburg County in 1867. Stephen Mattoon was the first president, presiding over the school for fourteen years. "Mary D. Biddle of Philadelphia raised $1,400 for the new school and selected the name to honor her late husband, Major Henry Biddle. W. R. Myers, a wealthy Charlotte businessman, donated the first eight acres of land on Beatties Ford Road for the campus. In 1876 the state legislature formally chartered the school at which time the name was changed to Biddle University. Biddle Hall, the centerpiece of the campus, was completed in 1884. The first African American president was Daniel Sanders, who served in the position from 1891 until his death in 1907. "In 1921 and 1922, Jane Berry Smith of Pittsburgh donated funds for a theological dormitory, science building, teachers' cottage, and memorial gate. In addition she established an endowment in memory of her late husband, Johnson C. Smith. In recognition of her gifts, trustees voted to rename the institution. Consequently, the charter was amended to reflect the new name in 1923. James B. Duke, the tobacco magnate, included the school as a beneficiary of the Duke Endowment, created in 1924, putting in place an affiliation that has benefitted the university greatly over the years. "In 1932 women first enrolled at JCSU. Today the school retains its affiliation with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, reporting to its General Assembly through the Board of Christian Education. Since 1944 JCSU has been associated with the United Negro College Fund." This is marker number L-101 and it was erected in 2022 by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. [Review 2551 of 2024 - 4003 in North Carolina - 23562 overall]

In a commercial district of Kannapolis and in front of a Wells Fargo branch, this marker points out…read morethe earliest history of "North Carolina" before it was even settled. The marker reads, "Granville Grant. Formed northern half of colony of North Carolina. Southern boundary surveyed to a point near here in the fall of 1746." The online essay has more information. "On March 24, 1663, King Charles II granted eight men, the Lord Proprietors, the charter for a tract of land called Carolina in the American colonies. The charter was renewed in 1665. By 1729, seven of the eight Proprietors (or their heirs) had sold their interests back to the English government. The eighth Proprietor, John Lord Carteret, inherited from his grandfather the title of Earl Granville and one-eighth of the Carolina territory, which ranged from modern-day Virginia to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Granville refused to sell his territory back to King George II, and his one-eighth of Carolina became the Granville District." This is marker number L-13 and you can park in the bank lot to read it. [Review 1145 of 2024 - 3640 in North Carolina - 22169 overall]

This marker is located at the intersection of Gold Hill Road and North Carolina Route 73. It…read morerecalls an early clergyman in the area. It reads, "Samuel Suther. Early minister of German Reformed Church in N.C., 1768-1782. Preached at Coldwater Union Church which stood 500 yards north." Online, there is more information. "As with many of North Carolina's early immigrants, Samuel Suther arrived in the western piedmont with the tide of Germans moving southward along the Great Wagon Road. Born in Switzerland, Suther arrived in 1738 after a shipwreck off the coast of Virginia claimed the lives of his family members. He moved to Philadelphia where he taught German and then to Orangeburg, South Carolina, where he began serving as a German Reformed minister for Lutheran and Reformed congregations in both North and South Carolina. In 1768, he was ordered from his post at Coldwater Church in modern Cabarrus County by Governor William Tryon to preach to the Rowan and Mecklenburg militia during the War of the Regulation." "By 1771, Suther had moved to present-day Guilford County to preach to a combined congregation at Low's Lutheran Church. An outspoken proponent for the rights of colonists to protest English government, Suther, through his activism, forced a break in the congregation. The resulting split led to Suther and his followers leaving Low's to form their own church, Brick Church, near the site of the Battle of Alamance. Because of his patriotic fervor and his Revolutionary message, Suther and his congregation were targets for Loyalist attacks that eventually drove him from his home and destroyed his farm. After the war, Suther returned to Coldwater Church and others in that region before returning to South Carolina two years before his death in 1788." "Suther is credited by scholars as being the driving force for the survival of the German Reformed Church in North Carolina, owing to his efforts to seek support of northern Reformed congregations for their southern brethren who were struggling to keep the church alive in the face of war." [Review 14393 overall, 1718 of 2020, number 2718 in North Carolina.]

This state marker points out the first store in the Belks chain, which began here in Monroe. The…read moremarker reads, "William Henry Belk, 1862-1952, Merchant, philanthropist, and Presbyterian layman. Opened first store, May 29, 1888, two blocks east." Online, there is more information. "William Henry Belk, merchant and founder of the department store chain that bears his name, was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, in 1862 to Abel and Sarah Belk. His father was drowned by Union general William T. Sherman's troops in 1865. Eight years later the family moved to Monroe. At age fourteen Belk went to work in a dry goods store. At twenty-six he struck out on his own. Belk called his first store "The New York Racket," believing it "sounded big." Soon after its opening on May 29, 1888, Belk painted the slogan "Cheapest Store on Earth" on the side of the two-story brick building." "Belk adopted several innovations such as trading on a cash-only basis and refusing to haggle, as was then common practice. W. H. Belk was the sole proprietor of the business until 1891. In that year he was joined in the operation by his brother Dr. John Belk and the name was changed to W. H. Belk and Bro. The original building was replaced in 1941 with a new, larger structure on the same site. The "Mother Store of the Belk Stores" operated there until it was moved to a mall location in 1979." "The effects of W. H. Belk's merchandising skills have been felt in practically every North Carolina city and town. The Belk stores were unique in that they were not chain stores or franchises in the usual sense, but in that there was a local part-owner for each store, thus Belk-Leggett, Belk-Hudson, and the like. In time Belk stores, headquartered in Charlotte, numbered nearly 400 businesses in sixteen states throughout the South. The organization is the largest family- and management-owned department store operation in the nation with nearly two billion dollars in annual sales. William Henry Belk's "genius as a merchant" was hailed during his lifetime, and, through the store name, remains well-known to this day. Less well-remembered perhaps are Belk's philanthropic efforts and his devout Presbyterianism." [Review 15442 overall, 946 of 2021, number 2989 in North Carolina.]