NoDa

North Davidson and 36th Street, built as a mill village and reinvented as the arts district: galleries, music venues, breweries and a Blue Line station at the end of the block.

NoDa is the North Davidson Street mill district two miles northeast of Uptown, built in 1903 as the company village for Highland Park Manufacturing’s Mill No. 3, the first electric-powered textile mill in North Carolina. Artists arrived in the late 1980s, galleries followed, and the Blue Line’s 36th Street station opened in 2018.

Where it is

• North Davidson between 35th and 37th, the strip of music venues, bars and restaurants
• Highland Park Mill No. 3, still standing as apartments
• The water tower at North Davidson and 37th
• Mercury and Herrin streets, with the original mill cottages
• Cordelia Park and the north end of Little Sugar Creek Greenway

If you’re moving here

The mill cottages sell fast and new townhouses fill in around them; the converted mills and the buildings near the station are the rentals. Weekends are louder than anywhere outside Uptown, so if you want quiet, pick a street two or three blocks off North Davidson. It suits musicians, artists and anyone who wants a train to work and a bar on the corner. The mill village guide tells you what you’re buying into.

If you’re visiting

• Ride the Blue Line to 36th Street and walk the strip
• Come for the Sunday farmers market on North Davidson or the monthly gallery crawl
• Catch a show at one of the music venues; the live music guide lists them
• Walk the murals with the mural guide
• Get the skyline shot from Cordelia Park at sunrise