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Charlottesville, Virginia is a small beautiful town that screams history from every corner: buildings and courtyards that were evident to some important historical stories; three presidents lived nearby; and lots of beer and wine. We came to Charlottesville due to an invitation of Liat to a conference at the University of Virginia. This unique historic compound holds remarkable stories and beautiful buildings and gardens. We came here only a few days after the violent demonstrations, which ended in the murder of an anti-fascist protester. The sharp contrast between the stunning pastoralism of this small university town and the inconceivable violence is a vivid example of a history of contradictions: On the one hand, three of the first presidents of the United States, those who drafted human rights and great American liberties, live nearby. On the other hand, the three of them were slave owners, and the city itself is an inherent part of the deep south that enjoyed many years of slavery. It is scary and fascinating at the same time. We came to Charlottesville from another conference that took place in Milwaukee. We flew to one of Washington D.C. airports and rented a car over there. The drive to Charlottesville was easy and went on without any problems. We arrived at our hotel in the afternoon - an excellent hotel located in the city center. Liat went directly to her conference while I started to explore the town. Our hotel was located just next to the beautiful Downtown Mall at the historic district: a charming pedestrians-only street full of restaurants, shops, and entertainment hosted in restored or renovated buildings. I walked directly to the Information Center next to the train station at the end of the street. The nice guy who works there gave me ideas for the itinerary. He marked them on a useful map and attached some helpful brochures. Now I had everything a traveler needs to enjoy almost three full days in Charlottesville. He also told me that there are free bus shuttles around the city – every 15 minutes. So, as he suggested, I started my tour walking in historic Jefferson Street. My day ended in a lovely local brewery restaurant called South Street Brewery. I ordered samples of local beers (they call a series of beer samples – a Flight) and a burger. The next day was kind of presidentially. I drove to James Madison's Montpelier – the mansion of the 4th president of the United States, one of the country's founding fathers and who considered being "the father of the constitution." The next stop of my visit was the Highland – the mansion of the 5th president, James Monroe. On my way back to Charlottesville, I stopped for a few minutes at Carter Orchard – a local farm with fresh fruits, locally crafted ciders, and a great view of the whole region. Afterward, I Joined my wife Liat and her colleagues for a guided tour of the old University of Virginia. On the third day, I explored the Grand Caverns. This unique cavern system was discovered more than 200 years ago, an hour's drive from Charlottesville. After lunch of burger and beer's flight in the Blue Mountain Brewery, I went to see the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, located just outside of Charlottesville. I had enough time to explore the University itself for a couple of hours and closed the day with a lovely dinner at Hamilton's at First & Main restaurant. On the fourth and last day of my trip, Liat came with me to visit the Monticello – the plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and the founder of the University of Virginia. Before driving to the airport near Washington, DC, we stopped for a traditional Virginia lunch at the old Michie Tavern. Those 72 hours at Charlottesville and around were full of history, beer, and great views of Virginia's autumn.

The displays of the Levine Museum cover the history of the new south, starting from the end of the Civil War in 1865 until today. The museum tells the entire story - from the cotton fields and the mills' flourishing to an ultra-modern banking center. Several interactive exhibits allow you to experience the past while walking the main street, sit in an old tenant farmer's house or feel the touch of seed cotton.

As I learned during my visit, this museum is not the only one Wells Fargo established. They like to tell their story – an initiative of gold shipping that became one of the largest companies in the world. You can take a picture with their famous carriage, play the Telegraph using the Mors signs, and even print a banknote with your photo. No admission.

The Mint is an impressive museum with permanent and changing exhibitions that deals with American, modern, and contemporary arts, craft, and design. We were lucky to come when Studio Drift - a Dutch group of artists presented a few marvelous installations. The permanent exhibitions were exciting too. On Wednesday afternoon, the entrance is free.

Uptown Charlotte is the largest business district in North Carolina. It hosts the headquarters of some major companies: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Duke Energy, and more. It's full of skyscrapers, museums, restaurants, bars, parks, sports, and events facilities. We spent a whole day in the Uptown, strolling the streets. We used a free guide map from the visitor info center. We visited the Levine Museum of the New South, the museum of Wells Fargo, the Mint Museum, and the Spectrum Center – the home of the Charlotte Hornets NBA team. If you are a history fan, you should take the Liberty Walk. You can use a free tour map with all the historical sites and stories related to the history of Charlotte and the Uptown district. While strolling the district, we enjoyed the many sculptures and art installations. One important statue is Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the German princess and queen of the United Kingdom, which the City has named after.

Reedy Creek Park is a beautiful urban park, consists of sports fields and courts, picnic facilities, a playground, and a fishing pier. It's a great place to take a trip in the middle of the day when the weather is good.

NoDa (short for "North Davidson") is an arts district in Charlotte not far from Uptown. It was an area of textile manufacturing and the residence of the mill's workers from 1903 until 1953 when the mill was sold and the concept of mill village faded. In the 1990s, the neighborhood started to enjoy an artistic flourishing, when pioneer artists began to renovate buildings and opened galleries. The mills were preserved and transferred into residence and businesses. And a lot of bars and breweries keep the neighborhood awake at nights.

The UNC Charlotte botanical gardens mainly addressing the faculty students and researchers, but they are lovely. So if you have a spare hour in the city – you can enjoy it here. It took me some time to find out where to park. I didn't know that the gardens have some reserved parking places in parking lot 16A just next to the greenhouse, but I found a parking place in the main building, and it was right in front of one of the garden's gates.

The Duke Mansion is a historic site built in 1915. Now it serves as a hotel, but you visit the gardens.

In 1825, a farmer found gold on his land. He opened a mine, followed by others who established their own mines in the area. On October 21, 1852, the first railroad train arrived in Charlotte, giving an essential boost to its economic growth. The district became a critical industrial zone, where many industrial and engineering inventions were made which contributed to pipes manufacturing, air conditioning, bottling, mass transportation, machine manufacturing, fashion design, and more. The last gold mine closed in 1938. The district flourished with the art scene, tech businesses, breweries, retail shops, and residence during the years. However, some streets, with their beautiful houses, feel like you were in the 19th century.

Our trip from Israel was horrible. It was at the start of the Coronavirus crisis. Israel already banned flights from China, but the rest of the world seems fine, so we decided to keep going with our plans. Liat was invited to a conference in Wilmington, and we thought it would be great to spend some more days in North Carolina. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from Israel to Charlotte. So we had to take a connection flight. It took us 20 hours to reach Charlotte – and all that time, we wore masks. Finally, we arrived at our hotel exhausted, just to find that there was a problem with our reservation. I booked the hotel via the British Airways club because I wanted to use our points. But the hotel never got it. Because there was a Basketball conference in the city – it took them two hours to find an alternative hotel and another 20 minutes' drive to finally reach it. The following day started late. We went to Uptown – the city center. Charlotte is the 2nd most important banking center in the USA, and its skyscrapers fill the neighborhood. We parked in a daily parking lot on 7th street and visited the most interesting Levine Museum of the New South. The museum tells the story of the southern countries after the civil war. They dealt with the ban of slavery, the alternative ways that they created to keep discriminating and abuse black people, including lynches and terror acts against the black community. Also, they deal with the foundation of the Civil Rights movement. It tells the story of the cotton fields, the establishment of mills all around Charlotte, and the neighborhoods that followed. After the two-hour visit, we got lunch in the 7th Street Market - a street food compound with all kinds of food to eat in place or to take away. Afterward, we took a walk on Tryon street, which is the central axis of Uptown and the city as a whole. We followed a free self-guided map we received from a visitor center and walked through many historical points of interest in the district regarding the American revolution in Charlotte. It was an important site of war against the British. The people of Charlotte were the first to oppose the British and declare themselves independent from the British King and parliament. We entered the Wells Fargo museum. It's a beautiful free-entrance museum that tells the story of a small shipping agency that became an enormous banking company since the gold rush – the American dream at its best. The Mint Museum of fine arts, craft, and design was our next stop. When we visited, they displayed marvelous installations of a Dutch artists group. We made a coffee break, waiting for our evening plan – an NBA game! I'm an NBA fan since childhood, and I always dreamt of seeing a live NBA game. So right after I booked the Tickets to Charlotte – I looked for a Hornet's game and found that they are playing against the Knicks on our second night in Charlotte. Perfect. Liat joined me – she was curious about it, even though she's not a basketball fan. However, she enjoyed it very much. An NBA game is much more than basketball – it's an entertainment event when each 30-seconds break is used – cheering, dunking contest, kids game on the 5 minutes break, dancing, and more. It was awesome. A fantastic way to spend the evening. The following day we took a walk in the University botanical gardens – a small but pleasant garden. It's good for an hour or half an hour walk, including the greenhouse. We drove to the NoDa neighborhood – which considered being a popular arts district. It looks like the place is waken late because at noon everything seems really sleepy. We took a walk on the main street and sat for lunch at Heist Brewery – one of the many local breweries in Charlotte. Afterward, we decided to visit another famous district: the historic South End. The neighborhood hosts some Breweries, art installations, murals, galleries. Shopping and fine-looking houses. Then we headed to the Duke Mansion and took a nice walk over there. We spent the afternoon in the Premium Outlets of Charlotte. We ended the day back in the NoDa district, visiting two breweries. No doubt that the night is the time to visit NoDa. Although Charlotte is a significant and populated city, It's full of green spaces, inside and outside the city. So we decided to take a morning trip to Reedy Creek Park. With marked routes and beautiful lakes, it was a heartwarming trip. The quiet, disturbed only with birds' tweets, was terrific and enviable. If you like – there are also places for a picnic and for fishing. All free of charge. After this excellent morning trip, we drove to the historic village in Minthill. Unfortunately, we did not know that a visit must be arranged in advance. But we were lucky, and due to an internal site volunteer event, some of the places were open, and we could take a peek. It was great. The lovely lady at the reception also recommended we visit the Reed Gold Mine -where the first nugget of gold was discovered in the USA. The museum tells a great story on the role of gold for the human culture and finding and digging of gold. The visit includes a short self-guided trip into an underground mine. After the beautiful trip, we started our drive toward Wilmington, where we spend the next 3 days. I dedicated Wilmington to a separate chapter on the blog. Because our flight back home went out from Charlotte, we came back after the visit to Wilmington. We had time to visit the Charlotte Museum of History and the Rock House. The museum has several nice historical exhibitions, but the main attraction is the Rock House - the oldest house in North Carolina, dated back to 1774. The house is preserved, and you can visit it with a guide. It was an absolutely great ending to our tour to Charlotte.

Visiting the historic village in Mint Hill allows a fine peek into the early years of rural America. You can explore the restored Country Doctor's office, the one-room schoolhouse, the store, the blacksmith shop, and more. If you want to visit, you need to contact the office and make an appointment.