Five Picks
1. Cane Creek Park: The park southwest of Monroe off Potter Road covers 1,050 acres and features a 350-acre trophy bass lake, picnic areas, paddle boats and trails for horseback riding and hiking. 704-843-3919.
2. Wingate University: This is one of the county's hidden gems, tucked just off U.S. 74 a few miles east of Monroe. This year, the university's new school of pharmacy graduated its first class. Wingate is a private liberal arts school with a charming campus. 800-755-5550; www.wingate.edu. 3. The Jesse Helms Center: Along U.S. 74 just before Wingate, the center is named in honor of the former U.S. senator and promotes free enterprise. Each year, it hosts internationally known speakers and exhibits. 704-233-1776; www.jessehelmscenter.org.
4. Waxhaw: This is a classic small town with a variety of antiques stores to browse, in southwest Union County at the intersection of N.C. 16 and N.C. 75. You also can visit the Museum of the Waxhaws and Andrew Jackson Memorial. The regional history museum focuses on the Waxhaw region and Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. 704-843-1832.
5. Main Street Monroe: Downtown Monroe is struggling to stay vital, but there are a couple things that make Main Street worth taking a moment to visit. It's a park-on-the-street, talk-to-a-friend kind of place. Main Street is less than a half-mile long. You can stand at one end and see the other. That makes it a perfect place to view the annual Christmas Parade, which is always the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
In Union County, you can live life the way you want.
If you want to be a suburbanite just at the edge of a bustling metropolitan area with relatively easy access to all the things a big city offers, you can do that here. If you choose to work in a big city but you want to get away to a slower country-style life, you can do that, too.
Union is the state's fastest-growing county. It's close to Charlotte, has affordable homes and some of the best schools in the state. Union also is confronted with many of the challenges that come with growth. You'll encounter heavy traffic, and county leaders are working to make the infrastructure, such as water and sewer service, keep up.
Still, life is good here. That's why many people who work in Charlotte live in one of Union's towns.
And there are a bunch of them: Indian Trail, Stallings, Unionville, Weddington, Hemby Bridge, Waxhaw, Monroe, Wingate, Marshville, Marvin, Fairview, Wesley Chapel and Lake Park.
Living here means you live the life of a commuter. You'll share the road with thousands of other drivers who are going the same direction as you each morning and evening. However, a new commuter train in Mecklenburg County may offer some relief when it starts later this year. That train will run to uptown Charlotte from a station in Pineville near Interstate 485. That's not far from our border. There also are buses run by the Charlotte Area Transit System from Charlotte to Monroe.
I've lived in Union County since 1989. I know the suburbanites and the farmers.
The rural areas are mostly east and northeast. When you travel through, you'll see horses and cattle grazing on farms that span hundreds of acres. You'll also see poultry farms, contributors to a strong local industry.
The diversity of its people and lifestyles is one of the things that makes this county charming.
Rapid growth has made this a mix of races and nationalities, of city-dwellers and country folks, Northern accents, Southern drawls and non-English speaking people.
Right now there are about 170,000 people spread across 640 square miles.
It's a good bet most of them found what they were looking for.
Cliff Harrington is columnist and assistant editor of Neighbors of Union County.
