Downtown Mooresville will soon be home to its very own luxury condominiums at 100 North Church. The four-story building offers units ranging from $370,000 to $500,000 and includes retail on the ground level.
Art-lovers will enjoy Cotton Ketchie’s watercolors and face jugs by regional potters at Landmark Galleries and the Mooresville Artist Guild’s Depot, a visual arts center located in an 1856 railroad depot. Both are in downtown Mooresville.
Other long-time traditions include D.E. Turner Hardware, a century-old store with items piled to the rafters and salesmen who love to spin yarns, and Mooresville Ice Cream Company, which has sold Deluxe brand ice cream since 1924.
West Lake Norman
West Lake Norman – which includes the eastern Lincoln County communities of Denver, Westport and Triangle and the Catawba County communities of Sherrills Ford and Terrell – offer easy commutes to Uptown Charlotte, great water views and less congestion than the eastern shore of the lake.
In comparison to eastern shores, Lake Norman’s west side is still in its building infancy. Gently rolling pastures, rustic barns and old family farmhouses can still be found, along with close-knit communities, neighborhood get-togethers, church activities and a slower pace of life.
The western shore’s small-town feel, rural atmosphere, friendly residents, focus on family and reasonable prices draw many folks who prefer to get away from the east side’s traffic jams, shopping centers, interstate congestion and high prices.
Western shore residents know growth is coming their way, too, but the goal has become controlling it and staying ahead of the problems population booms can bring to small communities.
In the unincorporated area of Denver, development is beginning to creep in from developers looking for lower prices, eastern shore spillover and the widening of N.C. 16 from Charlotte.
Verdict Ridge, developed by former Charlotte mayor Eddie Knox, also continues to build upscale golf course and wooded-view homes starting in the $300s. Set in the rolling foothills down Little Egypt Road off N.C. 73, Verdict Ridge features a challenging 18-hole PGA golf course, serene lakes, quiet woodlands and an activity-filled clubhouse with a pool and cabana, tennis courts and playground.
Governor’s Island, one of the first mansion-lined developments on Lake Norman, juts out from the western shore on a thin strip lined with multi-million-dollar stucco palaces. By car, the neighborhood is north of the N.C. 16/N.C. 73 intersection off of Webb Chapel Road.
Carolinas Medical Center – Lincoln serves western shore residents with a 24-hour Emergency Department, Heart Center, Sleep Center and Chronic Pain Management program. The recently-opened Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville also serves west side residents.
New residents who want to get involved in the community or learn more about issues affecting them can contact the East Lincoln Betterment Association (ELBA), a citizens’ group that lobbies for improvements and monitors growth issues along the western shore.
Catawba County has 152,000 residents and most still live in central and western parts of the area known as the Appalachian foothills, particularly in Hickory and Conover. These cities benefit from Interstate 40, mixed drink sales and heavy industrialization in furniture, textiles and fiber optics.
But the southeastern pocket of Catawba County is one of the fastest-growing portions, projected to grow almost 40 percent or more between 2005 and 2015, due to the demand of lake lots, relatively low housing prices and proximity to Charlotte.
To many area residents, good schools, less congestion, lower prices and a small-town way of life are worth the nearly one-hour commute to Charlotte.
Noteworthy attractions in the area include the Terrell Country Store at N.C. 150 and Sherrills Ford Road, an 1891 country store.
Farther west into Catawba County are the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge on N.C. 70 in Claremont – one of the two remaining covered bridges in North Carolina – and Murray’s Mill off N.C. 10, a fully restored working grist mill dating to 1883.
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