1. A whole world exists below the surface of Lake Norman. The lake was created in 1963, after Duke Energy flooded the area using water from the Catawba River and the land already contained homes, businesses, cemeteries, a plantation, cotton mills, mill villages and large machinery, the remnants of which still remain at the bottom of the lake.  
  2. The legend, if you believe it (Thomas Jefferson didn’t) is that we were the first to declare independence from Great Britain. The story centers around a document called The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and the story is the city leaders signed the document—declaring their separation—on May 20, 1775.  
  3. Regardless, the city celebrates the “Meck Dec” every May 20th. We celebrate Meck Dec Day, and even past presidents have come to celebrate the day. In addition, if you go to the corner of Fourth Street and Kings Drive, there is a statue of Captain James Jack on his way to deliver the Meck Dec to Philadelphia. According to legend.   
  4. Uptown isn’t the only place where a historic Native American trail ran through Charlotte. The Tuckaseegee Trail, once ran through the current location of the U.S. National Whitewater Center property and led to the Tuckaseegee Ford, the oldest crossing point along the Catawba.  

 

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Photo by Cody Hughes @clhughes21