An ode to Charlotte's roads

Who was W.T. Harris? Where was Sardis? What’s the Community House?

Turns out, lots of folks out there want to know more about how Charlotte’s oft-confusing roads got their names.

After I wrote Sunday explaining four examples of the area’s more colorful road names (including the three above), I’ve received a flood of inquiries on other local road names, from Tom Short to Margaret Wallace. I’m in the process of researching some of the explanations, and I plan to follow up soon.

I can use your input. What other roads’ names are you wondering about? Or, do you know a colorful story behind a road name in your area? Please post here or e-mail me.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this poem composed by reader Richard Quadrini, who was inspired to write it from his own experiences trying to find his way around Charlotte's roads:

YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE
Went out one day to make my way with mind and body sound
Full tank of gas and map in hand, to the eastside I was bound
But roads were bent and streets changed names, Queens Road went round and round
Turned this way once, then back and forth, getting lost I came to fear
So I asked a cop if he would stop and show a way more clear,
He shook his head and said instead, “You can't get there from here!!”