MOST authorities on the earliest known facts about Mecklenburg County rely on Lawson's History of North Carolina, by John Lawson (1714) and on A Journey to the Land of Eden, by William Byrd, written about 1733 but unpublished until 1841. Of the two, Lawson's book is the most enlightening as to the immediate vicinity of Mecklenburg County.
IN America there were centuries of frontiers. The Piedmont frontier of the Carolinas was first described by an explorer sent out, in 1670, by Governor Berkeley of Virginia. To this traveler, John Lederer, belongs the credit for opening the trading path used later by the colonists of Virginia for trading with the Indians of the Carolinas. Originally known as the Occoneechee Trail, the Catawba Trading Path became, in the first phase of exploration and settlement, the most important route through the Piedmont.
THE first Mecklenburgers, according to historian D. A. Tompkins, were producers. They believed than any work, so it was faithfully and honestly done, was worth doing, and that manhood was more than wealth. Mecklenburg could have existed comfortably cut off from the rest of the world. That makes a people feel independent . . .
THE battle of Charlotte is given scant attention in general histories of the Revolution, but the battle marked the turning point in the fortunes of the British. Never thereafter did the enemy wage a very successful offensive. Unlike the Mecklenburg declaration of independence, about which some have had doubts, no serious question has arisen about Charlotte's part in the Revolution.
AMONG the provision of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 31, 1775 it was stipulated that the inhabitants form themselves into nine companies and "chuse" two freeholders from each who would act as selectmen to govern the county. With some unimportant changes, this form of government existed until the Civil War. Following the war, the county was divided into fifteen townships. Later, five towns were incorporated and many villages and communities established.
Davidson