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 marker is in front of a mixed-use building that has some retail at the ground floor and…read moreapartments/condos on the upper floors. There are some street parking spaces and the Gold Line goes past. The marker reads, "D.A Tompkins. 1851-1914. Crusader for southern industrial development, manufacturer, engineer, author, and publisher. Grave is 1/2 mile north." There is more information online. "Daniel Augustus Tompkins, industrialist and newspaper editor, was born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, on October 12, 1851 to Dewitt and Virginia Tompkins. Interested in engineering since his boyhood, Daniel entered the University of South Carolina in 1867, but shortly thereafter transferred to the Renssalear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where he graduated in 1873 with an engineering degree. "After graduation, Tompkins became a master machinist with Bethlehem Iron Works in Pennsylvania. The factory head, John Fritz, considered Tompkins one of the finest machinists in the industry, and sent him to Germany in 1877 to oversee the development of the Schwerte Iron Works. Following his return in 1879, Tompkins took a position with the Crystal Plate Glass Company of Crystal City, Missouri. Two years later, Tompkins moved to Charlotte as a machinist for the Westinghouse Machine Company. Soon thereafter, he began his own business, D. A. Tompkins Company, installing steam engines in the numerous cotton mills of western and central North Carolina. "By the late 1880s D. A. Tompkins Company had expanded operations to the construction of various mills and electric plants. By 1910, the organization had developed 250 cotton oil mills, 150 electric plants, and 100 cotton plants. Because of his success in the manufacturing industry, President William McKinley appointed him a member of the United States Industrial Commission. In addition, he served as a member of the board of trustees at what is now North Carolina State University and was instrumental in the development of the university's textile school. He also served as the director of Equitable Life Insurance. "Tompkins also understood the influence of mass media, and how he could use it to give voice to his industrial New South policies. Therefore, he obtained controlling interests in the Charlotte Daily Observer, the Charlotte Evening News, and Greenville (S.C.) News. Under the guise of several ghostwriters, Tompkins also produced a number of pamphlets and books such as Cotton Values in Textile Fabrics and History of Mecklenburg County from 1740 to 1903 (written by Charles Lee Coon). "Tompkins spoke out against compulsory public school, child labor legislation, and wage per hour regulation and sought to maximize profits and retain cheap labor in the southern mills. Tompkins retired from business in 1910, owing to poor health, and moved to his summer home in Montreat. He died of a paralytic condition on October 18, 1914, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte. After the death of his fiancée in 1884, Tompkins never married and left no children." [Review 2550 of 2024 - 4002 in North Carolina - 23561 overall]

This marker is along the railroad tracks at the South Carolina border on the North Carolina side…read more It points out some Revolutionary War history. The marker reads, "Tory force led by Col. Ferguson camped nearby Oct. 4-5, 1780. Two days later Ferguson died in major British defeat at Kings Mountain, 5 mi. SE." Colonel Patrick Ferguson was a Scottish-born officer known for developing the breechloading Ferguson rifle and serving in several key Revolutionary War campaigns, had threatened to burn out backcountry settlers who opposed British rule. His warning backfired, galvanizing local militias from Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia to confront his forces. The resulting battle on October 7 led to Ferguson's death and a decisive Patriot victory. It is marker number O-13 and it was erected in 1984 by the Division of Archives and History. There is room to stop at the roadside to read the marker. [Review 668 of 2025 - 4151 in North Carolina - 24229 overall]

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.]

Located on a semicircular drive in front of York's Rose Hill Cemetery. South Carolina the first to…read moresecede and form the Confederate States of America. A large number of battles took place in SC and a large number of dead and wounded were from the state. The granite monument is in very good condition. Perhaps 20 feet tall, on the front below crossed swords, "Lest We Forget, 1861-1865, Our Confederate Dead." On the next side, "Those for whom they died, Have erected this Monument, To recall To their Children and, Fellow country men, How worthily they lived, How nobly they died, And in what tender reverence, Their memory survives." Unlike other monuments, there is no soldier at the top. I do not know if the land where it stands is public or privately owned. [Review 13888 overall, 1210 of 2020, number 648 in South Carolina.]

Camp Green was a US Army training camp here. In 1917, both the 3rd Infantry Division and the 4th…read moreInfantry Divisions were first organized and assembled at this camp. It was named for Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Green. Major General Greene was the Continental Army major general who forced the British out of the Carolinas. Charlotte was selected over other cities due to the land, weather, and infrastructure to accommodate a camp, as well as a location on a major rail line, giving the city a logistical edge in transporting soldiers and munitions to New York City for the eventual trip abroad. Camp Greene is a massive facility by early 20th-century standards. Its 2,500 acres of forest and cotton fields, bought from families like James Dowd, are eventually expanded to 6,000 acres, which stretch from the cusp of downtown, on what is now Wilkinson Boulevard, west to the Catawba River and Gaston County. There is plenty of room to dig five miles of trenches, to simulate the preferred method of ground combat in Europe. At its peak, more than 60,000 soldiers live on base. The 41st Infantry Division, which trains for 16 weeks, is the first to ship off to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force, followed by the 3rd and 4th Divisions. Today, the only camp remnants that survive are the Dowd family's farmhouse -- now designated as a historic site -- and a couple of rectangular barracks that are converted into permanent housing. And this marker at the corner of Wilkinson and Monument Street. The marker was erected by the Mecklenburg Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It lists the names of the different brigades trained her and the dates, July 12 1917 to June 30, 1919. [Review 16684 overall - 3189 in North Carolina - 196 of 2022.]

The Declaration of Independence is nice and all that but did you know that Mecklenburg, North…read moreCarolina declared independence over a year earlier? The marker reads, "Bold set of anti-British resolutions, adopted on May 31, 1775, in meeting 50 yards S.W. organized by Thomas Polk, fired spirit of independence." It is marker number L-115 and it was erected in 2015 by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. Aadopted here in Charlotte, North Carolina, just weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord and drafted by the Mecklenburg County Committee of Safety, the Resolves declared that all laws and commissions originating from the British Crown or Parliament were null and void, effectively ending British authority in the region. While not a formal declaration of independence, the Resolves laid out a framework for self-governance, including the establishment of local judicial and military structures. They also called on other colonies to form their own governments, signaling a significant shift toward autonomy. Though they left open the possibility of reconciliation if Britain rescinded its oppressive policies, the Resolves marked one of the earliest organized rejections of British rule in the colonies and helped ignite the spirit of independence in the American South. [Review 1425 of 2025 - 4496 in North Carolina - 24976 overall]

This marker is in Uptown Charlotte and looks like a regular North Carolina historical marker but it…read moreseems to be independent. It simply reads, "Second Ward School. 1923-1969. Site of the first public high school for Blacks in Charlotte-Mecklenburg." At the bottom, it indicates that it was erected by Second Ward School Alumni. Second Ward High School was opened in 1923 in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the city's first public high school for African Americans. During a time of segregation, the school provided respect and safety, and was considered the heart of the neighborhood. The school was subsequently closed in 1969, when the neighborhood was demolished during urban renewal. [Review 516 of 2025 - 4116 in North Carolina - 24077 overall]