Dr. Nelson

Davidson College professor emerita of economics C. Louise Nelson passed away Thursday. Our neighbor and Davidson College director of Media Relations Bill Giduz recaps her outstanding career and contributions in an appreciation on the college website. He calls Dr. Nelson “a pioneer,” not only in the academic world, where she was Davidson’s first woman full professor, but also nationwide in the fields of banking and economics. She was known for a “genteel conversational nature, quest for knowledge and concern for problems that plague the world,” Mr. Giduz writes. Read the full article, CLICK HERE>

"Grace" by Philip Williams

There’s a new angel at South Main Square. It’s an eight-foot steel sculpture named “Grace,” overlooking the parking lot and South Main Street/Highway 115, in front of Ultimate Salon.

This public artwork by artist Philip Williams will be formally unveiled Thursday during a Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours” reception.

THURSDAY AFTER WORK

The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce will hold a “Business After Hours” to coincide with a grand opening and ribbon cutting at South Main Square on Thursday, Oct. 16, 5 to 7 p.m. More in our Oct. 10 news item.

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Davidson College archivist Jan Blodgett will lead a free program on “Pages from Davidson’s Past” Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Davidson public library branch, on the Village Green. Ms. Blodgett will share documents and images from our town’s past. Participants are invited to bring their own documents, stories and questions. It’s free, but registration is requested. Light refreshments will be served. Call 704-416-4000 to register.

Longtime employee David Beam (left), owner Tim Helfrich, and barista Andy Simkus behind the counter at Summit. (David Boraks photo)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

For the past decade, Summit Coffee has been an anchor of Davidson’s downtown, not only attracting locals and visitors with its blend of good coffee and good music, but also supplying an atmosphere that has fed our town’s resurgent sense of community.

It’s a comfortable, reliable, always-on venue where patrons can catch a coffee buzz – and catch up on the local buzz. Read the full story

The name “Woods Hall” will have a special meaning to Davidson residents when the new building is dedicated Friday at Woodlawn School. The building will house Woodlawn’s upper school and will be named for James Baker Woods III, a soldier from Davidson killed in action during the Vietnam War.

See below for more on the dedication ceremony, and also news of a silo in Charlotte with public art by a Davidson Day teacher, plus a full calendar of upcoming school events.
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Planning director Kris Krider talks about possible traffic flows during a walking tour of the Metrolina Warehouse site with residents, town officials and developers Wednesday night. (David Boraks photo)

A mixed-use development proposed for the Metrolina Warehouse site at Jackson and Depot streets downtown could create new ties between downtown and the West Side by bringing new residential and commercial uses to what is now an industrial block, planners and a developer said Thursday.

Representatives of developer GreenHawk Partners LLC, of Raleigh, joined planners, and residents at a two-day planning workshop to develop potential layouts for the warehouse site. The meeting, which wrapped up Thursday night at Town Hall, was the first step in what could be a year-long process for a development that is likely to transform downtown Davidson.

“It has a great potential for making a connection between the West Side and downtown,” Davidson planner Parviz Moosavi said Thursday. Read the full story

Workers are renovating the former Bill’s Anchor Grill on Hwy. 115. (David Boraks photo)

Bill’s Anchor Grill, a popular hangout on Highway 115 just north of the Iredell County line, is being revived by a new owner who says he wants to bring back the grill’s tradition of a basic meal at a modest price. Read the full story

‘Around Davidson’ column has 50 years of history

BY LAURIE DENNIS
DavidsonNews.net

It is, in some respects, an unfathomable transformation. What began as handwritten scraps of paper assembled into articles for a weekly newspaper is about to be transformed into online postings that can be read anywhere in the world. “Around Davidson,” a society column that dates to at least the 1960s, will debut this Thursday, Jan. 10, as a regular feature on DavidsonNews.net.

As envisioned by Brenda Barger, the column’s internet incarnation will carry on a tradition started by the late Elizabeth Woods, who spent 40 years detailing births (but not deaths), visits, travels, luncheons, marriages, baptisms and other assorted happy news of Davidson.

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