Graced with four distinctly beautiful seasons, a temporate climate and breathtaking natural surroundings, Charlotte offers something for everyone. Pristine, tree-filled landscapes invite you to explore. A spot for inventive cuisine and exciting nightlife. A welcoming place for families. Charlotte’s history is exciting and rich. Here the arts are thriving with music, visual arts, and dance.

Once confused with places like Charlottesville and Charleston to outsiders, the city named for Queen Charlotte, the wife of England’s King George II, is consistently ranked among the best places to work and live for men, women, families and minorities by media including Forbes, Black Enterprise, Ladies Home Journal, Natural Health, and Child.

Charlotte has 14,000 acres of parks and 19 recreational centers ranging from playground sites to 1,020 acre sites. Most parks have picnic areas and many have lake areas with fishing, lighted tennis courts and athletic fields.

With two major lakes within 30 minutes of Charlotte, water sports are very popular. During the summer, water skiers, sailors, windsurfers and fishermen take to the water. Lake Norman, to the north of the city, is N.C.’s largest man made lake, built by Duke Power. Called an Inland Sea, it has over 520 miles of shoreline. Lake Wylie, to the south of the city, is Duke Powers oldest man made lake. An estimated 325 miles of shoreline are shared by North and South Carolina.

The city, long a connecting point as host to one of America’s busiest airports, has also become a destination, evolving from a textile and transportation base into the nation’s second-largest financial center with just under a trillion dollars in assets, home to the nation’s fourth and third largest banks, second-largest energy company and the number one steelmaker.

Well known for companies like Bank of America, Wachovia and Duke Energy, Charlotte has quietly been a major national media center. Along with ESPN Regional TV, much of the country’s sports programming–college football and basketball, golf, auto racing, even ice skating – comes through Charlotte-based Jefferson-Pilot Sports and Raycom. American City Business Journals publishes business journals in 41 U.S. metropolitan markets as well as the Sports Business Journal and Winston Cup Scene.