In 1990, 3,000 people called Huntersville home. Proximity between the Queen City and the lake, lower home prices, less traffic and quiet communities catapulted Huntersville's population by an amazing 728 percent during the last decade. Today, over 33,000 people live here.

The boom in population has been music to the ears of homebuilders and realtors. Newcomers can choose from a broad range of home styles and prices family-friendly neighborhoods with sidewalks and bike trails, waterfront condominium communities with boat slips, or spacious luxury apartments. Huntersville operates a Parks and Recreation department that organizes classes, special events and athletics for all ages. Huntersville also has a family fitness center and outdoor fun park where kids can slide through tubes, spray water cannons and climb sprinkler-filled jungle gyms inside a pool. Although much of the retail and residential areas in Huntersville are new, the town also has 18 historic sites within a five-mile drive of Beatties Ford Road. Hopewell Presbyterian Church, for instance, dates to the 1740s and features 200 year-old stone walls around its cemetery. The Hugh Torance House and Store, started in the 1770s, is the oldest surviving store in Mecklenburg County. Latta Plantation Nature Preserve is the county's largest green space with hiking trails, a nature center, an equestrian center, boating and fishing on Mountain Island Lake, and a unique raptor center that rehabilitates and releases injured birds of prey. The town also boasts of world-class retail stores.

Birkdale Village

on Sam Furr Road includes apartments and offices above boutiques, restaurants and national retailers such as Williams Sonoma, Gap and Ann Taylor Loft. Live bands play on warm-weather weekend evenings, and parents from around the lake bring children to splash and play in the village square fountain. Aside from great neighborhoods, countless amenities and its friendly small town atmosphere, Huntersville also provides access to the haven of

Lake Norman

This breathtaking 32,500-acre man-made lake with 520 miles of shoreline provides scenic vistas, recreation and wildlife for all to enjoy. Huntersville is also just 10 minutes from Charlotte and only hours from mountain and beach resorts.