Charlotte Museum of History — Attraction in Charlotte

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...

The 1774 Alexander Rock House is the main attraction. The house is outside behind the museum. You have to pay for a guided tour to go inside. It was still worth the admission price to visit the homestead and museum even though we didn't get to go inside. A large portion of the first floor is dedicated to learning about the house; it was very interesting. The museum is relatively small. If you like to read absolutely everything be prepared to spend 4-5 hours. If you like to just quickly go along just looking and only reading when something grabs your attention then you're looking at more like 1.5 to 2 hours. Enjoy! There were lots of interesting facts about Charlotte, and the natives. We also learned a little about the state of North Carolina. Overall it was a good experience and worth it, we even bought a kids book about George Washington from the gift shop. My only complaints are because you don't get a map, or any explanation of the museum. You have to find your way to the gift shop, immediately to the right upon entering, to get your wristband and pay if you didn't buy tickets online. From there you are set on your way to figure it out on your own. We wouldn't have even known there was a house outside if I hadn't asked if we were able to leave and come back since we had wristbands. She said we couldn't leave the property, but could go outside because there was a house out there. Then we had to ask how to get outside. She showed us and said there was a bell outside and we could ring it, but would need permission. I guess we were supposed to ask her for permission right then and there because there was no one outside except for the person leading a group on a guided tour of the house. The bell was huge, think liberty bell. I would have liked to have rung the bell, but I feel I missed out on the opportunity due to the lack of clarity about the whole museum experience. Be sure to follow the trail in a loop all the way past the house and some other structures back to the museum. Again, the signage wasn't clear at all where to go. Once inside the museum is small and easy to find your way around. You find out what exhibit is there once...

DO NOT HAVE YOUR WEDDING AT THIS VENUE!!!! I directed a wedding at the Charlotte Museum of History one month ago and it was the worst experience EVER. The Operations & Events Manager, was unprofessional and argumentative the entire time. She even went as far as to make a serious allegation against me which was later proven by multiple people to be FALSE. An allegation that could have lead to the police showing up and ruining a brides wedding!!!!!!!!! Over the last 20 plus years, I've directed and coordinated weddings/receptions across NC and SC and have never witnessed such mean-spirited treatment. I can honestly say at some point during the two day event, there were run-ins with the bride, the bridesmaids, the mother of the bride, the catering staff and myself. As a matter of fact the experience left us with a litany of "negative" treatment at the hands of one person and one person only! I will sum it up by saying the treatment was reported at the highest level in great detail. To date, seemingly damage control is being done by the venue....responding to negative reviews from years ago indicating how things have changed. Well, the Operations & Events Manager remains the same. So, as of one month ago it was...