What makes these wonderful locales so appealing?

The twin beacons of the New South, the gleaming cities of Charlotte and Atlanta, combine past and present and point to an even brighter future.
Tied by background and proximity, Charlotte and Atlanta sit just 244 miles apart—about four hours by car if traffic allows.

Charlotte was settled first, by Thomas Polk (uncle of future President James K. Polk) in 1755. He built a home at the intersection of two trading paths that later became Trade and Tryon Streets, focal point of today’s Independence Square.

Residents of Charlotte, named for the German wife of British King George III, have always had an ­independent streak. Disdained by Cornwallis because of their open resentment of occupying British troops during the Revolutionary War, they earned the title “Hornet’s Nest” for their town—and Charlotte’s pro basketball team bears that name three centuries later.

The city survived the Revolution, the Civil War, and even the nation’s first gold rush, with cotton and transportation preceding banking and tourism as leading industries. The most successful survivor was the Charlotte Mint, created to process local gold 25 years before the Confederates seized it but standing today (in a different location) as the Mint Museum of Art.

It is one of many museums in a surprisingly diverse downtown. Tops on the list is the Levine Museum of the New South, home of a centerpiece exhibit called “Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers.”

The Charlotte Museum of History covers a wider timespan and includes tours of a 1774 house that is the oldest surviving structure in town. Discovery Place, a Center City science museum with an IMAX theater and 300 exhibits, while the North Carolina Blumental Performing Arts Center features three separate venues, one of them a 2,100-seat theater.

Called the “Most Livable City” by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Charlotte is also deemed one of the “most walkable” by Prevention Magazine, which cited its climate, parks, and points of interest. They include the Victorian homes of the historic Fourth Ward, the art galleries of NoDa (short for North Davidson Street), the unique boutiques of Plaza Midwood, and the upscale SouthPark neighborhood, where a restaurant called M5 Modern Mediterranean blends Old World recipes with 21st century chic. Also not to be missed are the new-wave Zada Janes Corner Café and Lulu, which calls itself “the cure for the common menu.”

Visitors with lots of leg power but limited time should join Walk Charlotte, an escorted on-foot tour that starts at the Visitor Information Center in Center City. Another way to see the city is the two-year-old South Corridor light rail line, which runs antique streetcars on weekends. Both the line itself and the adjacent trolley museum are being expanded.

Charlotte has big-league football (Panthers) and basketball (Bobcats), minor-league hockey and baseball, college basketball tournaments, plus a plethora of additional spectator sports. A hotbed of hot rods, it hosts three major NASCAR races and serves as home of the NASCAR fast lane and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, slated to open in 2010.

The U.S. National Whitewater Center, a half-hour from downtown, features the world’s largest manmade whitewater river with Class III-IV rapids. An official Olympics training site, it offers amateur competitions for canoes and kayaks plus rafting, rock-climbing, biking, hiking, and even gastronomic adventures (i.e., fried pickles at its River’s Edge restaurant).

More water adventures await on Lake Norman, north of town, or Lake Wylie, to the south, while more than 80 golf courses are sprinkled throughout the area. Tiger Woods plays in the Wachovia Championship, staged at Quail Hollow Club since 2003, and future Tigers can perfect their game at the top-rated Dana Rader Golf School, located at Ballantyne Golf Resort.

The nation’s second-largest financial center, trailing only New York, Charlotte has given the world Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Billy Graham, Richard Petty and Clay Aiken. The six-county metropolitan area is home to 1.6 million residents and the nation’s fastest-growing airport.

Atlanta, not to be outdone, is home to the world’s busiest airport, serving 90 million passengers per year. It also has the world’s largest aquarium, the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, and more than 100 streets that include the name “Peachtree.”

That’s not surprising for a one-time Indian village called Standing Peachtree. Sold to white settlers in 1822, Atlanta had numerous different names before Georgia railroad engineer J. Edgar Thomson suggested “Atlantica-Pacifica,” soon shortened to its present form. Incorporated in 1847, Atlanta was a Confederate rail and supply center before Union forces torched it in 1864. That event was vividly portrayed in the 1939 film Gone With the Wind, based on the Margaret Mitchell novel.

The Road to Tara Museum, in suburban Jonesboro, features paintings, photographs, and other memorabilia of the movie, which starred Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, while Mitchell’s Atlanta home is also a museum.

The true story of the Battle of Atlanta is best recounted at the Cyclorama, where a theater-in-the-round accompanies artifacts from what locals call the War Between the States.

Much has happened since. Rebuilt to reflect a New South economy that pushed its agricultural heritage to the back seat, Atlanta now relies on tourism, transportation, and exposure to the world stage. The long-time capital of Georgia is home to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, and the soon-to-come Center for Human and Civil Rights.

Other Atlanta icons include the High Museum of Art, CNN Center, the Fernback Museum of Natural History, and the Center for Puppetry Arts.

During the last decade of the 20th century, the city hosted the Centennial Olympic Games and five World Series that involved the Atlanta Braves. During the first decade of the 21st, it opened the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, and the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.

Timeless attractions range from Stone Mountain, the world’s biggest hunk of exposed granite, to The Varsity, an 81-year-old greasy spoon that caters to everyone from local hero Andrew Young to students at nearby Georgia Tech. Order a “naked dog walking” and the fast-talking crew behind the counter will serve up a plain hot dog to go.

A visit to The Varsity is both a spectator and participation sport—Nipsey Russell started as a car-hop there—but it is one of many in Atlanta. The city has seven pro sports teams, including one in each of the Big Four, plus plenty of collegiate action. The 71,000-seat Georgia Dome, regular home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, has also hosted Super Bowls, NCAA Final Four games, and Olympic events.

For many Atlanta visitors, golf is a passion. East Lake Golf Club, opened in 1904, is not only the city’s oldest but also its most famous. The original home course of golf legend Bobby Jones, East Lake has hosted nearly two-dozen championships. The nearby Charlie Yates course offers ­stunning views of the Atlanta skyline plus daily instructional classes for neighborhood schoolchildren.

In a city of neighborhoods, Buckhead is probably one of the most desirable. In addition to 1,400 retail stores and 90 art galleries, new hotels are rising more quickly than the phoenix that symbolizes the city’s recovery from Sherman’s torch. The 291-room W Atlanta-Buckhead, a sleek cylinder with proximity to the MARTA subway system, and the 150-room St. Regis, a 26-story tower, both are thriving after opening earlier this year.

Atlanta also appeals to the off-beat, with sports massages at the The Art of Touch, a midtown B&B lookalike, and New Orleans-style breakfasts at Parish, an Inmark eatery in a restored 890 pipe foundry building. Lunch gets an unusual twist at FLIP, a burger boutique offering “fine dining between two buns.” Its milkshake bar includes flavors that range from Krispy Kreme to foie de gras (which actually tastes good, despite its unlikely name).

Celebrity sightings are common. Elton John lives in Atlanta; Jimmy Carter attends Braves games; and Jane Fonda hasn’t left despite her divorce from Ted Turner. Famous faces, including Gladys Knight and Ashton Kutcher also appear at local restaurants they own. Former Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, an Alpharetta resident, is invariably polite to autograph seekers.

In fact, Southern hospitality is one tradition that has not disappeared into the dustbin of history. That’s one of the main reasons a visit to the New South is still so appealing.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VISIT CHARLOTTE

Former AP newsman Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is president emeritus of the North American Travel Journalists Association, travel editor of Sirius XM’s “Maggie Linton Show,” and author of 35 baseball books.