Charlotte
Updated: Aug 15, 2012 08:13 AM
Tours: Pedestrians walk past a marker for a self-guided tour in downtown Charlotte. Several self-guided walking tours cover the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Bechtler, Mint and Levine museums and a stop at Settlers’ Cemetery, where town founder and Revolutionary War hero Thomas Polk is buried.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) — President George Washington spent the night in a Charlotte inn once and came away unimpressed, referring to the city in his diary as a "trifling place."The Queen City — named after the wife of King George II, who ruled the colonies — has made up for lost time and now is best known as a business city, home to Duke Energy and the place where Hugh McColl started a small bank called NCNB, which grew to become the Bank of America. Soon, Charlotte will be known as a city that hosted the Democratic National Convention.Here are five of the best free things to do in Charlotte — and not a one involves holding a sign of support for a candidate or wearing a funny hat.
Firebird: A woman walking through the ‘Firebird’ sculpture in front of the Bechtler Museum of Art in downtown Charlotte.
(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)Independence Square: A statue of a woman holding a baby at Independence Square in downtown Charlotte. The statue is one of four bronze statues at the intersection of Trade and Tryon streets.
Green Park: Visitors walking past ‘Charlotte’ signs at The Green park in downtown Charlotte. The Green, a 1.5-acre downtown park at 435 S. Tryon St., is a literary-themed park with sculptures of giant books, pages and a walkway of sounds. Bright signs mark the intersections of author names, including ‘Emily’ and ‘Bronte’, ‘Herman’ and ‘Melville,’ and ‘Alice’ and ‘Walker.’
Queens Road West: A car drives under the canopy of oak trees on Queens Road West in Charlotte. A wide street with million-dollar homes, Queens Road West is part of the Myers Park neighborhood developed at the turn of the 20th century by the firm of John Nolen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, renowned for urban planning.
