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NASCAR Hall of Fame


cityboi

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I was very reluctant to the idea of Atlanta hosting an aquarium, but over time I've realized there isn't any significant difference between having an aquarium & a zoo. Sure Atlanta has very little 'water' heritage, but we also don't have much of a rainforest or African savannah heritage either. So I don't see any reason for Charlotte to not want an aquarium, sea lions are cool anyways...

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Yes, with our downtown not being on or close to a waterfront, we must import the water. Something about an oasis among the skyscrapers teeming with exotic living creatures just sounds appealing. A lot of times when I go uptown and see lots of families on the weekends, I feel kind of bad because I just don't see that much for them to do. And as an aside, has anyone noticed or is it just coincidence from my visits that The Green has turned into 'Hippie Haven'. Not that its bad or anything, because I think its cool that there's a different segment of the population enjoying our fine center city.

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Yes, with our downtown not being on or close to a waterfront, we must import the water. Something about an oasis among the skyscrapers teeming with exotic living creatures just sounds appealing. A lot of times when I go uptown and see lots of families on the weekends, I feel kind of bad because I just don't see that much for them to do. And as an aside, has anyone noticed or is it just coincidence from my visits that The Green has turned into 'Hippie Haven'. Not that its bad or anything, because I think its cool that there's a different segment of the population enjoying our fine center city.

It depends on what weekend day you're there. A friend of mine used to sell her artwork on The Green during "officially sanctioned" art festival days. There were always tons of artsy folk there to take it all in; just not enough to make it worth the artists' time. Maybe in a year or so; there just isn't enough foot traffic to make the art festivals there productive enough.

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Naw, what Charlotte or Raleigh needs is quite simple. Someone will build a fish tank one day. But Charlotte should use this energy to play off of the history of air travel in NC. They should build a First in Flight Center near the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It should comprise of 2 buildings that interconnect. One building would serve as a museum - containing replicas of Wright Brothers aircraft, etc. (doubt if they could get anything original).....basically, a history of air travel. The second bldg would contain high tech displays and advancements in air travel (wind tunnels and etc, that would complement NASCAR research.), along the lines of NASA.......because w/o Kitty Hawk, there would be no NASA.

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Any idea if there is talk of any stores/shopping involved with any of these calls?

That was hearsay information from someone who spoke with a "higher-up" planner, and I didn't really press further, but they said tons of overall development interest from out of town investors looking to do something here, and especially people with hotel proposals.

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What would be more relevant to Charlotte would be a First in Freedom museum as that would be unique. There are already significant museums to the Wright Brother's endeavors in Kitty Hawk, Ohio and the Smithsonian. A museum that celebrates a single event, that took place hundreds of miles from here, doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

On the other hand, a First in Freedom museum would highlight Charlotte's role in the American revolution. They could throw in the fact the nation's first gold rush took place here too.

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What about the museum at the mine? I'd hate to see traffic drawn away from there as it's one of the most interesting attractions in Charlotte metro.

If they really wanted to be interesting, they could open up one of the gold mines that are directly under the city.

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If they really wanted to be interesting, they could open up one of the gold mines that are directly under the city.

This is what I've been begging for.... I think an original opening is down by the Catholic Diocese HQ on South Church St. in South End.

It's one of those attractions that truly is unique, and makes it worthwhile to potential visitors to spend an extra day in the city.

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Are you sure they were gold mines in the sense of coal mines, meaning an underground tunnel that people actually worked in?

They didn't mine here for very long (everyone went to Cali) and I have the sense some of those "mines" were maybe just holes.

Definitely cool to point out the locations (one was located under the field at BofA stadium; they had to close it w/ concrete) and good subject for a museum, but maybe not much of a tourist attraction.

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They didn't mine here for very long (everyone went to Cali) and I have the sense some of those "mines" were maybe just holes.

Well they mined gold in Charlotte for close to 70 years so I am not sure what you mean by prolonged. Gold was discovered here in the late 1700s and so much gold was mined from Charlotte the US Mint opened a branch here to mint gold coins. (the Mint museum is its legacy). Remember that gold wasn't discovered in California until 1849, so there was a prolonged gold rush here that lasted 50 years and Mecklenburg was the nation's leading producer during this period. Charlotte gold financed much of the USA's early expansion and later Charlotte gold financed the Confederacy. The mines here are real gold mines and there were over 100 of them in the county including many right in the center city area They have been sealed up for decades for safety reasons.

Unfortunately this is history that most current inhabitants of the city seem to be unaware of. A museum would go a long way to provide some education.

If you ever come across a Charlotte gold coin you have something very valuable as they are quite rare.

Here is an example of one of the coins. Note the "C" on the back.

charotte_gold_coin_1.jpgcharlotte_gold_coin_2.jpg

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I do think the first gold rush was a really cool event, and I like the idea of a museum -- though the Reed Gold Mine (the first mine) is already a state historical site and the Museum of the New South does have displays about this part of Charlotte's history. If they did build one, it would be cool to incorporate BofA's collection of old Charlotte Mint coins, which is considered the best in existence.

As for the history of the rush, it certainly was a big deal, employing perhaps 30,000 at its peak, but it was also a short-lived boom. Large-scale mining didn't begin until the 1820s. The mint opened in 1838 and closed forever in 1861, when the Confederates took over the city. After the war, local production was deemed inadequate to justify reopening the mint. Some mining continued into the 1930s.

The coins produced by the mint had a sum total value of about $5 million, or about $100 million in present-day dollars. The federal budget in those years averaged about $50 million per year -- which is to say local coinage equalled less than one-half of one percent of federal spending.

Its possible the confederacy used some local gold to underwrite its currency, but the true confederate gold was "white gold," or cotton, and the cost of the war eventually forced both sides to float paper money for the first time as they spent more than they could support on a traditional gold standard.

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The coins produced by the mint had a sum total value of about $5 million, or about $100 million in present-day dollars. The federal budget in those years averaged about $50 million per year -- which is to say local coinage equalled less than one-half of one percent of federal spending.

You have made the mistake of assuming that all of the Charlotte gold was converted to coins which is not true. Much of the gold used to finance the USA's expansion was refined into bullion and was used to purchase items from Europe where American gold coins would have little use. Coinage was a convenient way for the government to issue money to the locals in the USA but it was hardly all the gold that came out of Charlotte's mines.

In addition, much of the Charlotte gold was minted into coins in the Philly mint. But there was enough of it to warrant the construction of a Mint in Charlotte as well. In those days it was dangerous to transport so much gold across the country so they decided to build a mint in Charlotte. That speaks to the volume of gold coming out of the mines here.

Likewise during the Confederate years, gold mined from Charlotte was used to purchase war goods from Europe again as bullion. The mint closed because the Confederacy wasn't going to continue to mint coins for a country that it no longer belonged to and the metal was too valuable to use for currency. That doesn't mean they were not still mining gold in Mecklenburg.

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