Huntersville, the first Lake Norman town north of Charlotte, was renamed from Craighead to Huntersville in honor of landowner and cotton farmer Robert Boston Hunter. The town incorporated in 1873, and fertile land and a rail line promoted quick growth. Cotton mill Virgin Manufacturing Company and a brickyard that supplied bricks for many homes in older sections of town were thriving businesses.

Even before Huntersville was established as a municipality and named for one of its founding fathers, steam engines carried passengers on rails that still run parallel to N.C. 115. Farmers grew cotton on their large plantations and prominent schools attracted families from near and far. In later years, textile mills brought more jobs and residents to the area.

As the town grew larger, so too did its business community. The Virgin Manufacturing Company, a cotton mill, encouraged the development of Huntersville’s “mill town” on the east side of the railroad tracks.

It is the sense of Huntersville’s past that has brought so many new residents to this town. The allure of the remaining farmland, the simple commute into the city of Charlotte and the proximity to the relatively new Lake Norman are just some of Huntersville’s enticements.

In 1990, 3,000 people called Huntersville home. Proximity between the Queen City and the lake, lower home prices, less traffic and quiet communities catapulted Huntersville's population by an amazing 728 percent during the last decade. Today, approximately 38,000 people live here.

The boom in population has been music to the ears of homebuilders and realtors. Newcomers can choose from a broad range of home styles and prices family-friendly neighborhoods with sidewalks and bike trails, waterfront condominium communities with boat slips, or spacious luxury apartments.

Huntersville operates a Parks and Recreation department that organizes classes, special events and athletics for all ages. Huntersville also has a family fitness center and outdoor fun park where kids can slide through tubes, spray water cannons and climb sprinkler-filled jungle gyms inside a pool.

Although much of the retail and residential areas in Huntersville are new, the town also has 18 historic sites within a five-mile drive of Beatties Ford Road. Hopewell Presbyterian Church, for instance, dates to the 1740s and features 200 year-old stone walls around its cemetery. The Hugh Torance House and Store, started in the 1770s, is the oldest surviving store in Mecklenburg County. Latta Plantation Nature Preserve is the county's largest green space with hiking trails, a nature center, an equestrian center, boating and fishing on Mountain Island Lake, and a unique raptor center that rehabilitates and releases injured birds of prey.

The town also boasts of world-class retail stores. Birkdale Village on Sam Furr Road includes apartments and offices above boutiques, restaurants and national retailers such as Williams Sonoma, Gap and Ann Taylor Loft. Live bands play on warm-weather weekend evenings, and parents from around the lake bring children to splash and play in the village square fountain.

Aside from great neighborhoods, countless amenities and its friendly small town atmosphere, Huntersville also provides access to the haven of Lake Norman. This breathtaking 32,500-acre man-made lake with 520 miles of shoreline provides scenic vistas, recreation and wildlife for all to enjoy. Huntersville is also just 10 minutes from Charlotte and only hours from mountain and beach resorts.