The Charlotte Museum of History

The Charlotte Museum of History in Eastern Charlotte was a great learning experience about the history of Charlotte and the state of North Carolina. You can allocate 2 hours to the museum, if you want to explore everything in detail. Their last admission is at 4pm every day when they’re open, so be mindful of that. There are mainly two sections to the museum—the first part is the outside where you can find the Hezekiah Alexander’s Rock House, the kitchen, and the spring house, including a few other structures. I appreciated that over the years, the museum has tried to maintain the originality of the structures both from outside as well as inside. The Rock House is the oldest building in the Mecklenburg County! I didn’t know that. It’s an easy walk to explore all the areas outside. There’s the freedom bell too which makes for a good photo spot. There’s a bit of history to the bell as well. The inside of the museum is spread across two floors with the lower floor having pictures related to Charlotte history over the years, an auditorium(for events I presume), and other significant artifacts and dioramas showcasing the events and people that shaped Charlotte. The second floor had a cartoon exhibit, and a section called “Charlotte Gems” which showcased the important people in Charlotte’s history. It was an enriching experience to learn about both. Cartooning indeed can be quite powerful drawing inspiration from the world affairs, and in turn influencing the masses it reaches to. The exhibit shed light on the prominent cartoon artists of Charlotte. I wish there was more information in the museum about the slaves and the Native American people who shaped Charlotte, but the information is scant, not because it’s the museum’s fault, but there’s literally scant information available about them. For instance, the information about the slaves is only available through the writings of Hezekiah, who owned them. As accurate as those writings may be, they still cannot completely capture their lives. The museum continues to try and uncover new information about Charlotte’s history, which is wonderful. Overall, I highly recommend the museum in case you’re a history buff like me, and even if you aren’t, you still can find something of interest here. The staff is polite, and does their best to help. There’s a discount available for students, seniors and children. In case you want to do a rock house tour, that’s available too for an additional fee. Check out their website for the latest prices. We visited on a Saturday afternoon, and the museum wasn’t busy. There’s a big parking lot outside, so parking shouldn’t be a problem.

We expected to see a broader display of Charlotte history. The museum is significantly focused on the 1774 stone house, which we could not enter. There is a small section on news print cartoons and the beginnings of information on the recently added Siloam School. There appears to be a new exhibit coming but it was not available for viewing. Not the level of museum aligned with the name. Note: to access the stone house requires walking up a somewhat steep hill, which may be challenging for elders.

Fantastic experience. I can't believe it had taken me this long to check this place out. We came for the AAPI family day, so admission was free. The exhibit was beautiful and informative. The cultural shows and activities were fun and engaging. We checked out the rest of the museum and there were a couple cool exhibits but it does seem like there should be more? The building is pretty spacious but each exhibits room feels like there could be more to it, if that makes sense? An exciting feature we weren't aware of until we saw the model upstairs was the Alexander Rock House. We followed the trails out back to the actual home and what a historic gem! We were able to walk through 2 floors of the actual house, another exterior building, the kitchen garden.. we then walked the path over the creek and to the spring house and then followed the trail back through the woods, along the creek, back to the museum. That was such a cool find!

The museum is very nice and clean. I thought the staff was very friendly and personable. Although I loved the items and information inside, I feel it needs to be expanded a bit more. I also would have loved a more in-depth look inside the historic buildings. Whether it be through photographs or specific windows to look inside. Hopefully, that gets added in the future. Overall, it was a quiet and nice experience. It has a lot of potential. They do offer military discounts to active duty members, which is nice.