A day in Matthews

This guide covers Matthews, the town about twelve miles southeast of Uptown that kept its own downtown while Charlotte expanded around it. It has roughly 32,000 residents, a main street that is genuinely a main street, and enough on it to fill a day without the drive feeling wasted. What follows is ordered the way you would actually spend one.

Getting there and parking

Matthews sits off Independence Boulevard and Highway 51, about twenty five minutes from Uptown outside rush hour and considerably longer during it. There is no light rail. Independence is the fast route and the unpleasant one; Monroe Road is slower and easier on the nerves.

Parking downtown is free and mostly unrestricted, which after South End and NoDa feels like a different country. Park once on or near Trade Street and walk.

Saturday morning: the market

The Matthews Community Farmers Market is the reason a lot of Charlotte people drive out here, and it is one of the oldest producer-only markets in the region. Producer-only means everything sold was grown or made by the person selling it, which is a real distinction and not every market in the area holds to it.

It runs Saturday mornings year round and Wednesday mornings in season, in the lot behind the Matthews Community Center. Arrive early, because the best produce goes in the first hour and parking tightens after nine.

Downtown Matthews

The old town core around Trade Street and John Street is small enough to walk in twenty minutes and worth doing slowly. There are independent shops, a handful of restaurants and the kind of civic buildings that a town builds when it expects to still be there in a century.

The stop that surprises people is Artisen Gelato, which is people. Co-owned by Manolo Betancur of Manolo’s Bakery, everything is made with coconut milk, which makes the entire shop vegan and gluten free. Coffee mocha chip, s’mores and key lime are the flavors to try, and Betancur gives tours explaining how dairy free gelato gets that rich.

Afternoon: the park

The town’s flagship park is Squirrel Lake Park on Pleasant Plains Road, and it is and it is better than most people expect. A lake and waterfall anchor the grounds, with shaded trails and benches, a modern playground, picnic shelters, restrooms and a wooden pavilion. A wooded disc golf course plays tight through the trees.

It connects to the Four Mile Creek Greenway, which runs toward Charlotte and gives you a longer walk if you want one. Blackberries grow along the trails in season, and birds come to the lake edge close enough that children can feed them. The shelters can be reserved and they fill on weekend afternoons.

Stumptown Park in the middle of downtown is the smaller option, and it hosts the town’s outdoor events and concerts through the warmer months.

Eating

Matthews has a better restaurant scene than a town this size usually manages, and it is mostly independent. The Loyalist Market on Trade Street is the cheese and charcuterie shop that doubles as a bar, and it has become the town’s default meeting place. Seaboard Brewing Taproom and Wine Bar sits in the old train depot area and pours its own beer alongside wine.

For a full meal, Santé on Trade Street has been the town’s fine dining option for years, in a converted house with a patio. Temple Mojo does Asian fusion and is the one locals name when somebody asks for something different.

Bisonte Pizza has a Matthews location, and it makes the most authentic Buffalo wings in the region alongside New York and Buffalo style pizza from family recipes.

Services worth knowing

If you live out this way instead of visiting, a few businesses on our other lists are based here. Modern Pet Salon on Providence Road runs a large grooming team with text reminders when a monthly groom is due. The Plant Guys on Independence Commerce Drive is the landscaper to call when the question is which plant instead of how much concrete.

For a yard, Signature Lawn and Urban Lawn & Landscape both work out of nearby Mint Hill and cover Matthews. For schools, Covenant Day School and Carmel Christian School are both here and both appear on our private schools guide.

Nearby

Ten minutes away in Mint Hill, Carolina Creamery is a walk up ice cream stand with homemade ice cream and no indoor seating, and it is a ten minute drive that regulars consider mandatory in summer.

Why the town kept its center

Matthews incorporated in 1879 around a railroad stop, and the downtown grid dates from then. When Charlotte expanded outward through the twentieth century it went around Matthews instead of through it, and the town held onto its own government, its own planning rules and its own main street.

The result is a place with a genuine center twelve miles from Uptown, which is rare in a metro that mostly grew as subdivisions. It is also why the drive feels like going somewhere instead of going to another part of the same city.

Events worth planning around

The town runs an outdoor concert and movie series at Stumptown Park through the warmer months, all free. Matthews Alive is the big one, a Labor Day weekend festival with a parade, rides and several days of music that takes over the downtown entirely. Check the town calendar before driving out on a festival weekend, because parking that is normally easy is not.

The greenway network

Four Mile Creek Greenway runs from Squirrel Lake Park toward Charlotte and is paved, flat and shaded for most of its length. It links up with the wider Mecklenburg greenway system, which means a cyclist can ride from Matthews toward the city without much road time.

For a walker it is the best reason to stay past lunch. The section nearest the park is the prettiest, the crossings are few and the whole thing is genuinely stroller friendly, which not every greenway in the county manages.

What it costs

Almost nothing. The farmers market costs what you spend, Squirrel Lake Park and Stumptown Park are both free with free parking, and the greenway is free. Gelato, lunch and a coffee is the whole budget for a day here, which makes it the cheapest outing in this series.

If you are moving out here

Matthews is one of the more sought after addresses in the county for families, and the reasons are the ones in this guide: a walkable downtown, its own parks department, its own police force and a school catchment people research carefully. It costs more per square foot than comparable housing further out toward Monroe or Indian Trail.

The trade is the commute. There is no rail, Independence is unpleasant at peak and the drive into Uptown can double in rush hour. People who work from home or on the south side love it. People commuting daily to the center city tend to reconsider after a year.

Good to know

Checked September 2026. The farmers market schedule shifts between the main season and winter, so check before driving out for it specifically.

Two practical notes. Independence Boulevard construction has been a running feature of life out here for years and adds unpredictable time to the drive, so leave margin. And downtown Matthews is quiet on Sunday and Monday, with several places closed, which makes Saturday the day to come.

Know somewhere in Matthews we should have included? Tell us.