Other Places to Eat & Drink
In Gaston County, North Carolina
Getting Here
Gastonia is the largest town in Gaston County, North Carolina and can be found just south of I-85 off of exit 17 in the center of the county. Hwy 321 runs north and south straight through town giving even better access to this booming metropolis.
Things to Do
A three-time All-America City and recipient of the U.S. Conference of Mayors top Livability Award, Gastonia is recognized as one of the area’s best places to live and work with an ideal combination of location, size, and quality of life. The city’s slogan: Great Place, Great People, Great Promise.
SCHIELE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Located a little outside of the downtown but a "Must SEE" is the Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium. This museum is one of 70 museums in the U.S. designated as an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and features the largest collection of mounted land mammals in the Southeast. Experience galleries with vivid natural history exhibits, plus outdoor recreations of a Catawba Indian Village and an 18th Century Farm. Discover our planetarium, Stone Age site, nature trail, live animal enclosures and many other interactive exhibits.
Other museums include the Alfred C. Kessell Center and the African American Museum of History & Culture both located in the renovated Loray Mill as well as the American Military Museum.
History
Gastonia began in 1873 as a small railroad depot. The combined effect of the realignment of the Atlanta & Charlotte Airline Railroad (now Norfolk Southern) from its original intended path several miles to the north of the City, and the Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroad (now CSX) and the introduction of the steam powered textile mill. It was the crossing of these two railroads and the beginning of the City's textile industry which brought opportunity to the town.
