Part 1
Its broad avenues and quaint streets wend their way through the tall oaks, maples and pines. Suddenly you break out of the canopy of green, and are left breathless by the sight of the massive towers of steel and concrete reaching toward the sky.
It is North Carolina's largest city, the dynamic financial, commercial and transportation capitol of the midsouth. Early Charlotteans would scarcely recognize the quiet little town of their time. They would marvel at the improvements.The horse-drawn streetcars are long gone. Instead, sleek, comfortable buses ply their routes at least once a week. All those primative old pre-1950 buildings have been demolished to make room for impressive high rise garages, where for less than a day's pay one can park his car for several hours. Sparkling new slums have replaced the shanties of yesteryear. Rush hour motorists on the 16-lane expressways that gird the city can now cruise at speeds up to 25 mph. Can heaven be far away?
The Piedmont, named for a now-defunct airline, is an area of fertile, rolling land that lies between the mountains and the coastal plain of the Carolinas. Long before the arrival of the Europeans, this geologically natural north-south corridor was a well-traveled route for Native Americans. The occasional contrarian who attempted to journey west or east was soon lost in the mountains or drowned in the ocean, a consequence not entirely lost on wealthy land speculators to the south who were eager to make Florida a major tourist destination.
The native tribes---the Catawbas, Cherokees, Subarus---had well-defined trails throughout the region. Where two of these pathways crossed in a clearing near a wide river, a tiny settlement took hold. At first there were only a few rude huts, a flea market, then later a convenience store. Soon the inhabitants gave it a name: Shar-lot, which means "trail crossing where pigs root around."
Those primitive people of long ago, of course, had no inkling that Shar-lot would someday become a bustling commercial center, with an eclectic mix of multinational corporations, muffler shops and tastefully-appointed X-rated video stores. In fact, it is doubtful they would have comprehended the word "eclectic."
Sometime in the late 1600s the visiting colonial governor, Chet, Earl of Gluttony (not to be confused with Glut, Earl of Chettony), changed the spelling of Shar-lot, by now a town of some size, to Charlotte. How was he able to do this? By changing the "S" to a "C," dropping the hyphen and adding "te." It's widely believed this was the first step toward Charlotte's attracting an NBA franchise.
Coming soon Throughout its history, Charlotte has played a vital role in the waging of war, providing arms, guns, rifles, provisions, food, manpower and people. We'll chronicle those contributions next time on Charlotte: World Class City.
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Copyright © 1999 Reno Bailey
