The Historical Old Potter Road
in Mecklenburg County

Potter Road was one of two main roads in Mecklenburg County in 1775, the other being the Great Wagon Road (Tryon Street) that came south from Philadelphia. Early letters from settlers indicate it was used by travelers from north of Charlotte to travel directly to Charleston and the South Carolina Low Country. One such letter referred to the road as "the bypass" around the village of Charlotte.

Potter Road forked off of the Great Road north of Sugah Creek Presbyterian Church and may have forked where Eastway Drive goes south to Briar Creek. The trace goes through the woods at Aldersgate Retirement Center, along Kilborne Drive to Central Avenue (formerly called Lawyers Road), through Sheffield Neighborhood Park , along Pierson Drive to Sharon Amity, and then south to the village of Providence in southern Mecklenburg County where it rejoined the main road to Charleston .

The section of Old Potter Road between Kilborne Drive and Tarrington Drive is now located in the County-managed Sheffield Park . [See attached 1808 Price-Struthers map, with Potter Road (now Kilborne Drive) named in red and the new park shown in green] . A trace of the old road is clearly visible in the woods at Sheffield Park, at the edge of Evergreen Nature Preserve. You can see it just above the new footbridge at Tarrington Drive, and also at the end of Progress Lane near Central Avenue.

South of Sheffield Park, Old Potter Road continued past Amity Presbyterian Church [See attached 1886 deed of Amity Presbyterian Church]. During the 1700s Old Potter Road connected the Sugah Creek community with the Providence Community, and then continued south to the modern town of Kershaw in South Carolina.

Changes over the Centuries

The McRae-Brazier map of 1833 and the U.S. Coastal Survey map of 1865 [see attached] show Potter Road and its extension northward from Sugah Creek Church as the main route between Wilkesboro, NC, and Charleston, SC. Thus, between the time of the earliest European Settlements in the 1740s until the time of construction of railroads during the 1850s and 1860s, Potter Road would have been the principle overland route for travel and commerce between Charleston and northern Mecklenburg County. Any southward shipments of cotton or other farm products and any northbound transportation of manufactured goods or slaves from Charleston would have moved along this road.

The name "Potter Road" appears on the 1911 map of Charlotte [See attached 1911 Mecklenburg County ] .

Today, the name “Potter Road” appears on a road from Kershaw, South Carolina, north to Unity, SC, and on a road from the South Carolina/North Carolina line north through Mineral Springs and Weddington in Union County. The current Potter Road ends at its intersection with Monroe Road south of Matthews, North Carolina.

The town of Mineral Springs was originally named Potter Crossing because it was located at the intersection of Potter Road and the railroad built from Monroe to Waxhaw in 1875.

The exact name “Potter Road” no longer exists on any road in Mecklenburg County, but an incorrect version of the name appears at the northern extension of Sugar Creek Road, just south of Harris Boulevard, where a dead-end “Old Potter's Road” forks off of Sugar Creek Road. This area is currently being developed as a housing subdivision, with street names like “Glaze” that play on the incorrect “Old Potter's Road” appellation.

Origins of The Name

The road may have been named for Elam Potter, a young minister from New England who spent a total of 12 months preaching to local congregations in 1767 and 1771. Elam Potter graduated from Yale in 1767 and immediately was sent to North Carolina for 6 months by the Philadelphia Synod to minister to the "frontiersmen and indians."

He voluntarily requested permission to return for another 6 months in 1771. This road was a shorter route between the Sugah Creek and Providence churches than the Great Wagon Road, which went through the village of Charlotte. Further, this road crossed headwaters of creeks rather than the deeper lower stretches, a fact that would be particularly important during high water. It seems likely that residents of the two settlements would have named this road in his honor.

 

 

E.A.S.T. (Eastland Area Strategies Team)

The Hezekiah Alexander House built near the trace that became known as Potter Road.

HISTORIC MAPS
The changing face of East Charlotte

1808 Price-Struthers map

1911 Mecklenburg County

1886 deed
of Amity Presbyterian Church

McRae-Brazier map of 1833

U.S. Coastal Survey map of 1865

HISTORY

SETTLERS

Historical Information is the result of research by local residents.