Neither of us have ever been fans of NASCAR. Although, after watching a bit with our friends Julie and Bill Hill while visiting, we can understand the appeal. It’s far more enjoyable if you know the rules and the players, which is probably true of all sports.
Downtown Charlotte’s NASCAR Hall of Fame is near the Convention Center. Surely, you’d get a lot more out of visiting this 15,000 sq. ft. venue if you knew iconic drivers, crew members, and team owners in the sport, but if you’re looking to learn about the sport, I suspect it would be good for that as well.
With only a short afternoon in Charlotte, we decided to visit the Levine Museum of the New South instead. Online, it had been described as “an exploration of Charlotte’s past (end of the Civil War) to today” and we thought some history would give us a sense for the place.
In the heart of historic downtown, you’ll find the Mint Museum, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture within just a few blocks of one another.
The Levine Museum of the New South is located here as well but appeared to be undergoing renovation. What we found there was not a history museum, but one small and powerful exhibit called “Men of Change”, which featured prominent African American Men in music, art, film, law, journalism, sports, and politics who are dedicated to making a difference. These were some impressive men, and while I recognized a few, I was embarrassed at how few. It was very educational, and I took some notes on future books to read.
Levine 
When we’d finished the exhibit, the woman at the desk told us that we had free admission to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture which was just a few blocks away, so we started walking. Like many larger southern towns, Charlotte has some solid brick and late 1800 / early 1900 era buildings, homes and churches that stand defiant, holding their ground next to larger, more-modern steel-framed glass buildings that threaten to obscure them. We passed through a lush (even in November) green space that contained several permanent art installations before reaching the art museum. The museum was small, but had some thought-provoking works.
The Mint
Harvey B Gantt 
We stayed overnight in a Harvest Host church parking lot located in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification. Looking back on the pictures from our day, it was obvious that we’d barely scratched the surface of all that Charlotte had to offer. We enjoyed what we did experience, but we know there’s a lot more to North Carolina’s largest and most diverse city.
