charlotte-neighborhoods

Introduction

This is a brief introduction to neighborhoods in Charlotte, as written by me. It is completely biased toward the places I’ve been and the experiences I’ve had, and though much of this city is a picture-in-motion, I’ve done my best to try to describe these areas as well as I could.

A frustrating disclaimer about directions: This is a city built on a 45-degree tilt as compared to the compass rose. Generally speaking, when we call something North, it means North East.

neighborhoods, annotated below!

note: two charlotte light rail lines outlined **very** roughly above

Blue line (in blue!) Gold Line (in yellow/gold)

1 - South End

Housing options: Almost entirely big, giant apartment buildings, and the occasional townhouse rental, with few actually for sale. There’s maybe 50 houses total in this area. This is where Natalie and I currently live- it is Charlotte’s most walkable neighborhood, largely full of people in their 20s. The Neighborhood has mostly taken shape due to the construction of the Blue Line of Charlotte’s Lynx light rail, which goes west-to-east across the city’s larger beltway (I-485), through the heart of this neighborhood.

South End is a bustling place, often full of new construction, and frequently catches the ire of local news outlets because the our twenty-something majority has acted like they’re immortal during the past year and change. That is to say: lots of people going to bars still, large parties at apartments, etc.

With that said, there’s lots of great stuff here! I live within walking distance to about 5 great coffee shops (and counting), several bottle shops for beer enthusiasts, and 3 grocery stores. There’s heaps of good food around, too.

Notable Places:

2 - Dilworth

Housing options: Dilworth is South End’s wealthy, charming neighbor. This is notably one of the older neighborhoods in the city, and as such, it is mostly houses, with very few traditional apartments. You can find rentals of both sorts here - lovely southern bungalows and quad-style apartments where a big brick building is divided into 4 units.

Dilworth is an absolutely lovely, beautiful, spread out suburban-ish neighborhood just a stone’s throw from the denser part of the city. People who own homes here are mostly successful professionals who have done a good job of saving (I’d say the low-end for houses here is $1M). With that said, rental homes here can be amazing if you like the neighborhood. It is quiet and serene, and there’s several parks within that are great for exercise, picnics, walking a dog, etc. Dilworth is divided in half by East Blvd, which runs, uh… northwest to southeast (I know, I know). It’s a great neighborhood - almost 0 crime, happy people abound, and great access to everything else. Most of my walks/runs this year have gone through Dilworth, at least partly because it has wonderful shade cover.

Notable eating:

3 - Sedgefield

Housing Options: Here you’ll find mostly traditional homes for rent and sale, including some older bungalows. It has seen a massive re-build over the past 5 years, so many new mcmansions are popping up as well. You might find a quad-style apartment here too, but they’re a bit more rare.

Sedgefield is what Natalie calls “Charlotte’s hidden gem” – or at least, it was before everyone found it! It’s a lovely neighborhood a lot like Dilworth: it’s very close to city-things, but much more quiet and suburban, walkable, and placid. There’s many new homes here including a sub-neighborhood of townhouses/row-houses that were built in the last few years. You’re more likely to find a house here with a garage than Dilworth, if that’s something you’re looking for. Sedgefield has quite a few parks in it and nearby, and has easy access to lots of the city, including the light rail if you’re near enough to South Blvd to walk.

Notable eating:

not really a ton of businesses here, but it is close-enough-as-makes-no-difference to Dilworth, South End, and Myers Park that they should count here too. Additionally,

4 - Myers Park (and surrounding)

Housing options: 50/50 homes and smaller apartment buildings

Myers Park is home to quite a bit of suburban sprawl, and is another high-demand neighborhood in Charlotte. Natalie teaches at a school here (Myers Park Traditional School), nestled near Queens Road on the map. Safe, beautiful, and full of shade-trees. There’s a few boulevards full of big, old-style traditional mansions, but also quite a bit of human-attainable housing. You may find some rentals here with garages, too. Myers Park is quite walkable, and home to Freedom Park, one of Charlotte’s biggest public parks. It’s a great spot for a workout, a walk through some trails in the woods, or laying out and reading a book in the shade or in a hammock. Lots of events here during the (normal) year including live music / theater, festivals for local food and craftspeople, etc

5 - Scaleybark (?)

this is really the intersection of a few neighborhoods, and doesn’t have a name as far as I’m aware

Housing options: count on mostly houses for sale and rent

Scaleybark is pretty thoroughly suburban. It neighbors a part of South Blvd that contains quite a bit of good ethnic food (largely south american and some asian places, with one or two african restaurants). As you might expect, homes in this area get a little cheaper as they get farther from the city. IMO, this is a great neighborhood to live in because it’s near-enough to other parts of the city that you’ll still want to do things in the other spots. Much father away, and you’re getting into a 20-ish minute drive to get to some of the more fun and interesting spots in the city. It’s a good balance of affordable and nearby. I would call this area walkable as well, but generally homes around here aren’t convenient to walk to many shops/businesses/restaurants, or the light rail due to the nature of the suburban sprawl here.

6 - Plaza Midwood (and nearby Chantilly, Plaza Hills, and Plaza-Shamrock)

Housing options: many apartments, some southern bungalows for sale and rent, and a few newer/moderner house layouts.

Plaza Midwood is one of Charlotte’s two hipster-centric, cool-ass-people neighborhoods (the other is NoDa, #7). People love this neighborhood because it has heaps of great little shops and restaurants, and a community that is alt-centric and friendly-to-all. There is quite a bit of nightlife on the main drag here (Central Ave), but most housing is far enough away that you won’t notice at night. Traffic can be a bit of a chore at times, and its location is far enough from the interstate that getting out of town takes 10-ish minutes. Lots of public art here, some beautiful parks, and extremely walkable. There’s a handful of places that regularly feature live music, and a couple small art galleries and thrift shops. It’s a really cool place.

Notable eating:

7 - NoDa

(North Davidson, named after the road that goes through the middle of the neighborhood. There’s also a town called Davidson nearby, to the north of Charlotte – home of Davidson college – but that is not this.)

Housing available: mix of apartments, townhomes, and homes.

NoDa is the other hipster-arts-centric district in town. It is off the beaten path because of its origins - some years ago, Charlotte’s art community found it as their super-affordable home near the city. Now that it’s a cool place, it’s much more expensive. There’s lots of fun bars and restaurants here, and a few good places for breakfast and fresh-made donuts. Very arts-and-music heavy neighborhood, and a fun place to be. It’s worth visiting to see if you like it. It can be a little noisy here at night, and the nearby neighborhoods are also a bit sketchy. For that reason, it’s not suuuuper walkable if you go anywhere but towards the city through villa heights and optimist park. It is connected to the rest of the city via light rail, which makes visiting and commuting a snap!

notable eating:

8 - Wesley Heights

Housing: Mix of apartments and bungalows

Wesley Heights is essentially my old neighborhood. My factory condo is on the city-side of this neighborhood, nearest to Bank of America Stadium, where the panthers play. This little neighborhood is full of beautiful old bungalows like Dilworth, but doesn’t command the same price for some reason. It’s got a few little parks, and a big walking trail that follows an old train line away from the city. Rumor has it that one day that train will run again, shuttling people to the city from the… north/west? over about a mile of distance. You’ll find lots of people walking their dogs in this neighborhood, and it’s not uncommon to see rabbits hopping around early in the morning. We’ve even seen a fox or two on occasion.

Some of the nearby neighborhoods can be a bit sketchy, so walking alone-at-night isn’t always a good idea, but it’s generally safe.

Notable food:

9 - Eastover / Elizabeth / Midtown

housing options: homes, apartments

This big sprawling area covers a lot. This is a fairly busy part of town because it’s a common path for commuting. Charlotte’s biggest hospitals and health care centers are located here, and there’s a shopping area with Target / Trader Joe’s / Best Buy and some other fairly common shopping places. There’s lots of different types of housing within this area, and it is fairly convenient to everywhere. It’s got access to all of Charlotte’s nearby neighborhoods and tons of food options. There’s also a big park/greenway that goes through it, called Little Sugar Creek Greenway, which connects this area to NoDa and Dilworth via a pedestrian-only path that’s really lovely all year long.

Notable food:

10 - Cotswold

housing options: apartments, homes

Cotswold is notable because it can be affordable to find a place to live here. It’s not super walkable or super convenient to other neighborhoods, but if you’re willing to add 10-15min to your drive, it’s a pretty nice place. There’s lots of familiar names popping up here for restaurants and coffee shops, because it’s a large community space and was underserved for a long time. Traffic on Monroe Rd and Randolph Rd can get pretty bad during commuting times - they’re major veins of transit for people from further-out parts of town who commute into the city.

Notable food