Six years after the wreck that almost took the life of Larry Sprinkle, he was able to thank the firefighter who saved him on a special day for that firefighter.

On May 4, 2016, Sprinkle was driving on I-485 during the late afternoon rush, with traffic moving at a steady pace. Then, Sprinkle remembers traffic stopped abruptly.

“Not seeing the brake lights, I slam into a large pickup truck,” Sprinkle said. “The front of my car is totally demolished. People in the truck are OK… me, that’s another story.”

Charlotte North Carolina – History, Culture, and Sports

Founded in 1750, Charlotte is a city located in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. This region is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Charlotte is one of the largest cities in the state and a major economic and cultural center in the United States. Charlotte is home to the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA, the Charlotte Panthers of the NFL, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It is also home to many cultural and higher learning institutions.

Charlotte’s growth began in the early 1700s, after European settlers established a village. The name Charlotte comes from Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who was the queen consort of British King George III. The city was founded to serve as a trading center in the region. It was also a crossroads in the region.

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed in Charlotte in May 1775. The declaration was written more than a year before the Philadelphia Declaration of Independence, and was included on the North Carolina state seal.

The discovery of gold in the 1750s, however, changed the city’s economic and trading status. Miners brought gold to Charlotte and smelted it. The gold spurted Charlotte’s growth as a trading city and it became a major hub for trade in the region. Until 1849, Charlotte was the center of gold production in the country.

Charlotte also grew from a village to a town. In 1850, the population was 1,065; in 1860, the city had grown to 2,265 people.