From Charlotte Magazine:
THE PEOPLE in Charlotte’s suburbs turn elections, create traffic, and feed large employers. They surround our lakes and brighten up old railroad tracks. And they’re resilient. Over the past quarter-century, the towns around our city have moved on from tobacco and textiles to forge their own identities, distinct from one another.
There’s no such thing as an ordinary Charlotte suburb. There are lake suburbs, small-town suburbs and suburbs where people identify themselves by which highway exit number is closest to their house. Some places feel like they’re extensions of Charlotte; others feel like they’re in another world. …
7. Belmont: Rob Florio moved to Belmont from Charlotte two years ago to be closer to his girlfriend, and when one of those things didn’t work out, well, at least he liked his new town. He’s a 27-year-old with a beard and a nose ring who manages the bar at 10Catawba, an event space housed in an old Ford dealership in downtown. Textile mills once ruled here, and when they went away, Belmont played up its small-town appeals—a hardware store and a drug store and trains and stuff—to draw tourists. Now it’s evolved into a place that proves old-time charm and youthful cool can coexist—a place with a bagel shop and ice cream shop in the old hardware store, and a wine bar in the old drugstore. Belmont feels like a big-city neighborhood, just 25 miles west of the big city. “I never miss Charlotte,” Florio says. …
