Yates Abernathy House

This house was moved from the Acme Mill Village in North Belmont to it's current location behind the Belmont Historical Society. 

This house is a typical example of the various 14 mill villages in and around Belmont and is decorated with period furnishings. 

Built in 1920, the home features four rooms and was heated with a coal fireplace and had indoor plumbing on the back porch. The home is open to the public and worth a visit to see what life in Belmont used to be like!

The Robert Lee Stowe, Sr. House at 32 East Catawba Ave

It's currently serves as a museum and cultural learning center for the Belmont Historical Society (If you haven't been, you need to go!) 

It was built in 1899 and was the first Belmont home of Gaston County's foremost textile magnate, Robert Lee Stowe, Sr. and believed to be the 3rd oldest house in Belmont. 

The house is a charming example of turn of the century architecture and features the original separate kitchen located at the rear of the house as well as a mill house decorated with period furnishings. 

Albert Hand House

The Albert Hand house located on North Main St:

The high quality exterior brick is said to be imported from Europe. 

The neo-classical house was built in 1907 by Albert Hand who was a farmer from Charlotte that inherited the land. He reportedly closely supervised it's construction. 

At one time the house served as the Lutheran parsonage and it is currently listed on the Gaston County Local Landmarks register.

Even though this home is listed on the local register and located in a National Historic District, it along with ALL the other homes and buildings in the historic district are scheduled be rezoned to high density in near future IF the proposed Land Plan is passed on Monday May 5th by City Council. These historic designations in no prevent these historic structures from being torn down in the future do build high density dwellings. 

Learn more about how you can get involved and become a preservation advocate on our facebook page at Historic Belmont Foundation. 

Your help is needed and you can make a difference!

Chronicle Mill

Here's three interesting facts about the Chronicle Mill. 

It was the first mill built in Belmont, Circa 1901.

In 1906, it was one of the first buildings in the US to be air conditioned, then called a humidification system.

It operated under the Stowe Mills legacy until it closed in 2009 and has been vacant since that time.

Update: Demolition began in 2013, but the developer quickly saw the potential of the 110,000 square foot structure and decided to save it. Unfortunately, due to significant changes and additions over the years the building did not qualify for federal tax credits that would have helped off-set the cost of renovations. The ultimate fate of the building remains to be seen, but we're keeping our fingers crossed!

Question: What would you like to see this old mill transformed into?

The Belmont General Store

We have been provided some interesting insider history from Mr. Robert Stowe, who's grandfather started the store. This is a quote from Mr. Stowes email used with his permission:

"The business was started in 1889 by my grandfather and his brother-in-law as Stowe and Puett as retail dealer in general merchandise long before the mills were started. They sold everything including caskets. Mr. Puett’s health declined and he sold his interest to my grandfather’s brother S. P. Stowe and they changed the name to Stowe Brothers Company. The original store building was where the P&N depot is now. When Southern (Duke)Power wanted that location for their depot, they built the present building next door in 1904. The Chronicle and Imperial mills were already in operation when they sold the business not the building to the Horsleys and the Dixons. All of the mills in Belmont worked out deal with the new owners to allow their employees to charge merchandise at the store and have the charges deducted from their pay. This continued in into the 1980’s when our company was the last to end the practice. I bought the business and the building in 1986 and turned it into a True Value Hardware store which operated for about six years. When I closed the business, Dan Stowe bought the building and rented out for retail. After Dan died the building went to his heirs. We sold the building to LaVecchia and Matinata. The painting of the building is the kind of thing I worry about more than what the building is used for. Painting it as well as the building on the other side of street impaired their historic significance. The Stowe Merc. building is constructed of sun-dried brick. Removing the paint will be difficult if not impossible without damaging the brick." ~ end of quote.

City Hall

Prior to 1972 it was the US Post Office. 

It boasts a period 1939 mural in the lobby worth seeing. 

It is one of only 3 structures in Belmont listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A.C. Lineberger House

This Renaissance Revival style home was built in 1921 for the A.C. Lineberger family who were partners in Lineberger-Stowe Mills. 

The elegant dining room (pictured here) features the original, hand painted rice paper of Oriental design. 

The third floor was originally a ballroom, but in 1949 with his young family in the house, Mr. Lineberger commissioned an Austrian painter to create a circus playroom painting whimsical life-size circus characters under the "big-top" circus tent formed by the slope of the roof.