Local Historic Sites
The Mecklenburg Historical Association has been actively involved in the restoration, operation and interpretation of several historic sites throughout Mecklenburg County. These include:
Hezekiah Alexander Home Site (aka – The Rock House)
The Charlotte Museum of History explores Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s rich history during the 18th, and 19th centuries and is home to the oldest surviving structure in Mecklenburg County, The Hezekiah Alexander House (circa 1774). Set on eight acres of grounds, The Museum is also home to the American Freedom Bell, the Backcountry Patriot Statue and historic gardens. it is open to the public. www.charlottemuseum.org
President James K. Polk State Historic Site
In the 1950s, having recognized the desirability of erecting a memorial to James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States, the MHA successfully encouraged the state to recreate his birthplace south of Pineville on Highway 521. As a state historic site, the complex of period log structures and visitor’s center is open to the public free of charge. www.nchistoricsites.org/polk
Latta Place
Note: This site is currently closed to the public and will re-open in 2024.
In the 1970s, the MHA initiated and participated in the restoration of one of the last remaining Catawba River plantation, built around 1800 by James Latta, an Ulster Scot merchant. Latta Place is 12 miles northwest of Charlotte at the end of Sample Road, just off of Beatties Ford Road and across from historic Hopewell Presbyterian Church.
Historic Rosed
ale Plantation.
Originally part of a 919 acre plantation, Rosedale was built in 1815 by Archibald Frew, who was a merchant, postmaster and tax collector. The house was occupied from the 1830s by D. T. Caldwell and his family. Dr. Caldwell, in addition to his medical practice, ran the plantation with the support of 2 slave families consisting of about 20 people. The plantation remained in the family until 1985. Rosedale is one of the finest examples of Federal period architecture in North Carolina and is noted for its faux grained woodwork and the original French wallpaper that survives in three rooms.
Hugh Torance House and Store
In the 1980s, the MHA fostered the restoration of the oldest surviving store in Mecklenburg County and perhaps in North Carolina. The Hugh Torance House and Store is located on Gilead Road, two miles west of Huntersville (I-77, exit 23), only a few miles north of Latta Place. It is open to the public.
Thomas Polk Park
In 1992, the Mecklenburg Historical Association worked with the Charlotte city council to name the park at the “Square” (Trade and Tryon Streets) for Charlotte’s founder Thomas Polk. The MHA also provided the text for the four plaques at the site.
Settlers Cemetery
Sitting on part of the hilltop that comprises the heart of Charlotte, just two blocks from the Square, is the city’s oldest public cemetery. Old Settlers’ Cemetery is located on West Fifth Street, between Poplar and Church Streets.
Steele Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery
This is the home to perhaps the finest collection of Scots-Irish colonial-era and early American folk art in the South and Charlotte’s second-oldest congregation (c 1760). The church relocated in 2019 due to airport expansion to form Steele Creek Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Hill. The vacant 1889 gothic sanctuary still stands beside the historic cemetery that contains more than 3,000 graves, including those of Dr. Billy Graham’s parents. Many of the stones are from the prolific Bigham family of stone cutters. They brought their craft from Ulster, Ireland through Pennsylvania to the North Carolina back country in the mid 18th century. These grave markers are the earliest identifiable art of the Scots-Irish settlers, with the oldest grave dating back to 1763.
Providence Presbyterian Church Cemetery
The church was organized in 1767 by settlers attracted to the site, which featured a natural spring. Built in 1858, the current sanctuary is the oldest frame sanctuary in Mecklenburg County. Ministers conducting the first services stood on a large rock at the front of the historic burial ground where the oldest grave dates to 1764 and where three signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence are buried. In 2004 the church officially acknowledged the graves of at least 40 church members buried in a slave cemetery located just beyond the stone wall near Providence Spring.