Stories? You’re standing on a gold mine.
From historic sites like the location of America’s first gold discovery to premier motorsports entertainment, Cabarrus County is full of amazing attractions, events and experiences driven by a community full of unique stories. Get inspired with the ideas below, then start planning your visit by contacting Lou Hammond Group at Cabarrus@LouHammond.com.
Are you a hospitality partner in Cabarrus County with news to share? Send a message to Julie Hinson, Director of Communications at JulieHinson@ExploreCabarrus.com.
The area’s textile history lives on inside the former Mount Pleasant Hosiery Mill where mirco brews made onsite and a large selection of rare bourbons meet inspired eats including dishes infused with whiskey from the award-winning distillery operating out of a former prison just down the road.
Even Cabarrus County’s two food halls have storied spaces, one set inside the former Cabarrus Bank building where diners can indulge next to the original vault and the other as part of one of the region’s most significant adaptive reuse projects.
In Concord, fans can visit Charlotte Motor Speedway to satisfy more than the need for speed. Savor a meal on the speedway’s 6th floor overlooking the start/finish line, then soak in the legacy of one of stock car racing’s most storied tracks on a guided tour.
Dating back to the 1800s, Cabarrus has been home to 44 textile mills over the decades including what once was the world’s largest producer of sheets and towels. 44 Mills Kitchen + Tap honors the past while offering craft cocktails and modern, Southern cuisine in a cool setting.
In its sixth year in 2026, the popular Cabarrus Burger Madness competition brings all-new, crazy creative burgers to the local dining scene. Born out of the desire to support local restaurtants amid the pandemic, this monthlong event takes place on March 1-31. All month, participating local restaurants debut over-the-top burger creations. Diners visit, taste and vote for their favorite, and a winner is awarded bragging rights!
Read all about the history of this delicious competition here.
Explore and Pour, Cabarrus County’s craft beverage trail, invites enthusiasts of beer, wine, cider, spirits, kombucha and more to discover something new to sip with a mobile passport. Check in at each location to earn points that can be redeemed for prizes at the Cabarrus County Visitor Center.
Known as the “Bellagio of Drag Strips,” zMAX Dragway is the first four-lane, all-concrete drag strip in the world. At the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in April each year, the thunderous roar of 40,000 horsepower causes the grandstands to rumble and fans from around the world to travel to Concord, North Carolina.
The first documented discovery of gold in the continental United States happened in Cabarrus County in 1799 when 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a 17-pound golden nugget on the family’s property—that they used as a doorstop! Today, visitors can tour several hundred feet of mine tunnels and can even strike gold for themselves at Reed Gold Mine in Midland.
Kannapolis is the hometown of NASCAR Hall of Famer and racing legend Dale Earnhardt, Sr. The city is also a cornerstone of The Dale Trail, a self-guided tour that features points of interest from Dale’s childhood and racing legacy. While on The Dale Trail, fans can pay tribute to the Intimidator and get a glimpse into his life as a man, not just a race car driver. Dale Earnhardt Tribute Plaza is one of the tour’s most significant locations featuring a nine-foot, 900-pound bronze statue of Dale as his friends and family remember him. Look closely and you’ll find features that relate to Earnhardt numerology all throughout the Plaza.
Also in Kannapolis, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame showcases our state’s rich musical history covering nearly every musical genre. The legacies of musicians with North Carolina ties are preserved and honored here including James Taylor, John Coltrane, Charlie Daniels, Roberta Flack, Andy Griffith, Randy Travis and more.
See here for more one-of-a-kind Cabarrus County experiences.
You may know Charlotte Motor Speedway as the 1.5 mile superspeedway where drivers take on NASCAR’s toughest test of man and machine during the season’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, and where championship battles heat up during the fall NASCAR races.
But have you been to a music festival here? Have you enjoyed fine dining with a bird’s eye view of the track inside The Speedway Club? Have you driven around the track when illuminated by six million lights during, Speedway Christmas?
Located in Concord, North Carolina, this superspeedway leads the pack in fan entertainment. No matter the niche, the story ideas are limitless at Charlotte Motor Speedway. What will yours be?
The roots of NASCAR racing go back to the Prohibition Era during the national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol in the United States. Those who made and delivered illegal whiskey did so by the light of the moon and became known as “moonshine runners.”
With souped-up cars and reputations for outsmarting and outdriving the law, these drivers began racing each other. By the end of the 1940s, those contests evolved into a spectator sport after Bill France Sr. organized owners, drivers, mechanics and promoters who worked together to draft race rules and regulations. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing or NASCAR was born.
Today, Cabarrus County is home to an unequaled concentration of motorsports attractions. From racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s hometown of Kannapolis to NASCAR team race shops like Hendrick Motorsports where Cup Series championships were built, much of the sports storied history began and continues to grow within our county lines.
Cabarrus County, North Carolina is the ideal addition to holiday destination round-ups! Why?
The 98th Annual Concord Christmas Parade will take place in November 2026 and is North Carolina’s longest running Christmas parade. Along with tree lightings and parades in each community, find festive fun at Great Wolf Lodge where the 80,000-sq. ft. water park is kept 84° and flurries fall in the lobby during Snowland! Then, drive on legendary Charlotte Motor Speedway during the 17th Annual Speedway Christmas, the Southeast’s largest drive-through light show featuring a 4-mile drive-thru course with over six million lights, drive-in movies on the 16,000 sq. ft. HDTV and so much more!
Inside Concord Mills, wrap up holiday shopping with over 200 stores inside the state’s largest outlet and value retail shopping center including the Lionel store (one of only two in the world!) as the toy train maker prepares to celebrate 125 Years in 2025. Then, experience Sea of Lights at SEA LIFE Aquarium.
