People living in Charlotte, NC can rely on WNC Health Insurance to help them find quality health insurance plans at affordable prices. Free rate quotes for residents of Charlotte, NC are just a phone call or click away. With all the recent changes to the Affordable Care Act, picking a health insurance plan can seem daunting. If you are living in Charlotte, NC or anywhere in North Carolina, WNC Health Insurance can help. Our friendly agents know all the ins and outs of enrolling in health insurance, and can help you find the coverage that is right for you and your family.
The largest city in North Carolina, Charlotte is home to three quarters of a million locals – “Charlotteans” as they’re called. Sitting close to the Catawba River, Charlotte nestles between two creeks, Sugar Creek and Irwin Creek. If you are looking for health insurance in Charlotte NC, you are in luck. There are many health insurance agencies in Charlotte, but WNC Health Insurance is the best!
The city of Charlotte has a large number of sister cities – at the last count, it has eight from the countries of Peru, Germany, China, Russia, France, Poland, Ghana, and Israel. Throughout the year, Charlotte can boast of not only a humid subtropical climate, but a wild and rebellious history that all of its residents are very proud of.
Charlotte, like Alberta and Victoria, was named after the British monarchs who were ruling at the time. In the case of Charlotte, the individual was Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. She was known as a wonderful beauty during her time, and King George wanted to honor her and make her memorable for all time. He has certainly achieved that aim. Even now, Charlotte’s natural beauty and stunning scenery is commented on by many people and visitors to the area. The city of Charlotte NC has accumulated many different nicknames throughout its long and amazing history. However, there is one particular nickname that Charlotteans are very proud of: The Hornet’s Nest. This comes from a letter that was written during the American Revolutionary War by British Commander Cornwallis, who described the city as ‘a hornet’s nest of rebellion’. The city of Charlotte, rather than being abashed by the Brit’s criticism, proudly took the title as its own, and it has been known as that ever since.
The first settlers of Charlotte arrived about 1755, and historical records show that it was Thomas Spratt and his family – almost worthy of their own nursery rhyme! It only took a decade for the neighborhood to be known as Charlotte Town. The next major event to happen in Charlotte is one that has settled into the history books, as it had incredible ramifications for American history. In 1775, many local community leaders came together, and signed a document called the Mecklenburg Resolves. This is now known as the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and although it did not state outright that they were abstaining from British rule, it was the first step towards anger against the British control over the American ‘colonies’, and indirectly led to the American Revolution. Charlotteans are very proud of the part that they played in overcoming British rule, and celebrate this day as ‘MecDec’ every year on May 20th.
But even after the American Revolutionary War was over, the city of Charlotte did not stop being a center of thought and learning. By the 1800s, there were so many different churches established there – from Presbyterian, Lutheran and Roman Catholic, to Methodist, that Charlotte gained another nickname: the City of Churches. And before you know it, another amazing thing had occurred in the city of Charlotte that was beginning to gain recognition all around the globe; gold. The story goes that a local boy named Conrad Reed, who was only twelve years old at the time, found a 17 lb. rock in a creek on this family farm, and used it as his family’s doorstop. A few years later the boy’s father brought it to a local jeweler who realized that the large rock was in fact solid gold. Pretending to the Reed family that it really wasn’t worth that much, he bought it from them for $3.50 – one week’s wages for a farm laborer. This was the first gold found on American soil, and it began the first Gold Rush in American history.
Even when the mining of gold died down, Charlotte’s clever citizens quickly found another way to keep the town successful and solvent. Before long, a cotton processing center and a railroad were built in Charlotte, giving many local people employment, and bringing in a steady stream of workers and goods to the city. The benefits of a large and thriving town came quickly to Charlotte, bringing with the successes of its citizens brilliant libraries, roads, and links with other towns around North Carolina. Charlotte began to grow larger and larger as more people wanted to move there to be close to where the prosperity was. Unlike many towns and cities around the world, Charlotte has never really experienced down-trodden times, and has continued throughout the 1900s to offer people a beautiful and comforting place to live and work.
However, that does not mean that Charlotteans have not had their fair share of natural disasters. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo ripped straight through Charlotte, causing a huge amount of property damage, felling over eighty thousand trees, and wiping out electricity for everyone. Some wind speeds were recorded as being over one hundred miles per hour. This was very shocking, as in fact many people from nearby coastal areas travel to Charlotte to avoid hurricanes. Thankfully, no one was hurt or killed. The latest natural disaster (as of this writing) occurred in 2002, and was nicknamed ‘Hugo on Ice’ – a huge ice storm killed electricity for 1.3 million people during one of the coldest winters on record. For many places, this would have been a completely impossible situation to deal with, but not for Charlotteans. The citizens of Charlotte are strong and are driven by a strong sense of community, and many people were cared for by neighbors and well-wishers.
Although Charlotte is a beautiful and cosmopolitan city, that’s not all that it can offer in the twenty-first century: Charlotte is one of the biggest financial centers in America. Unusual for such an unspoiled place, the city contains the headquarters of several important financial institutions, including the Bank of America, and the East Coast operations of Wells Fargo. Many health insurance companies operate out of Charlotte, making it the place to go for fairly priced health insurance coverage. All of these different companies, health insurance brokers, and large banking corporations have of course made Charlotte the second largest banking headquarters in the entirety of America – beaten, of course, by New York.
From such humble beginnings of one man and his family, the city of Charlotte has expanded to a huge size. It now constitutes almost two hundred different and unique neighborhoods. Some areas are known for their international feel, with vibrant communities from all over the world, including Eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners, Hispanics, and Greeks in particular. This cosmopolitan feel has led many more people to want to live in Charlotte – and no wonder. There are bustling areas that are known for the arts and its many museums, beautiful parks throughout the city, and the University of North Carolina Charlotte. In fact, so many students, professors, and academic researchers live around the university that the area has become known as University City!
If you are thinking about visiting Charlotte, then you are in for a treat. Every Friday and Saturday you can enjoy Food Truck Friday or Sizzlin’ Saturday. This is a gathering of food trucks for great music and delicious food, and you can taste a unique part of Charlotte cuisine. If you decide to visit in October and November, you can take part in the Carolina Renaissance Festival, open on the weekends throughout those two winter months. This is one of the biggest Renaissance fairs in the entire country, and thousands of people travel from miles around to attend. But if sport is more your thing, then you will still not be disappointed. Charlotte contains not one, not two, but three excellent sports teams: the Carolina Panthers that play in the National Football League; the Charlotte Bobcats that play in the National Basketball Association; and the Charlotte Hounds that play in Major League Lacrosse.
There are many people who were born and bred in the city of Charlotte who went on to conquer the world in their own particular fields. For example, Annie Lowrie Alexander who lived from 1864 to 1929 was the first ever fully trained and licensed female physician in the American South. She challenged people’s preconceptions about what a ‘good’ doctor had to look like. Billy Graham, the evangelist, grew up in Charlotte attending church there and formulating his life goals. An amazing example of power and resolve, Susan J. Helms is a Charlottean, and after she left Charlotte she became a NASA astronaut. In the world of sport, Don Schollander, the Olympic swimmer, is from Charlotte, as is Bobby Jones the NBA player, and Larry Hefner, the former NFL linebacker. The vibrant arts and music communities within Charlotte have led to several successful authors, including Don Brown and Harry Golden, as well as many R&B singers such as Anthony Hamilton and Nappy Brown.
The city of Charlotte has a long and industrious history. It has come from small and lowly beginnings, and yet has developed continuously throughout economic booms and busts, and natural disasters, to become a place of learning, acceptance, and economic success.