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Get to know South End

If Food Truck Fridays speak to your vibe, look no further than South End. Located at the edge of Uptown Charlotte, this bustling transit-oriented neighborhood once formed the Queen City’s industrial heart, boasting countless textile mills and the infrastructure that supported them. Not unlike the original railroad a century before it, the Lynx light rail’s arrival to the area spurned a modern-day development boom, bringing a flood of new apartments, condos and townhomes. Today, you’ll find it to be a lively, happening place. Historic exposed-brick loft buildings mingle with a healthy dose of new urbanism, which you’ll enjoy from the mixed-use RailYard complex to the popular Charlotte Rail Trail, which parallels the trolley for some three and a half miles. The Atherton Mill & Market showcases a diverse array of retail, locavore fare, and more. Did we mention it’s all minutes from Center City?

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Living in Charlotte

The Charlotte area was the site of America’s first gold rush, prompted in 1799 when 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a whopper of a nugget playing in a Cabarrus County creek. Today, people are drawn here by other lodes: booming commerce, vibrant culture, and a subtropical climate that’s palpably milder than just a state or two north. Greater Charlotte represents the fourth-largest metropolitan region in the Southeast and one of the fastest-growing in the entire country. Nearly three million make their home in the 16 counties surrounding the “Queen City,” located in both North and South Carolina—they’ve gained nearly 20% of their collective population over the past decade alone. Countless companies across all industries maintain headquarters, if not a substantial presence, in Charlotte’s thriving urban core, most notably the finance, technology, and higher education sectors. And while “Metrolina” is all well inland, water-borne recreation thrives on Lake Norman, the largest manmade lake in the state, and throughout the Catawba River basin.