Located in the heart of the Southeast, Charlotte lies within the southern Piedmont of North Carolina, along the state’s border with South Carolina. Charlotte is the largest and most accessible city between Washington, D.C., and Dallas, Texas. Due to its mid-Atlantic location, getting to Charlotte is easy from anywhere in the country or the world, hence its nickname “the International Gateway to the South.”

LDS Population

LDS Members make up 0.84% of the population of Charlotte. The state of North Carolina has 71,737 members in 15 stakes, 102 wards, 42 branches, 2 missions, and 1 temple in Raleigh.

LDS History

The first known missionary to enter North Carolina was Jedediah M. Grant. On 18 May 1838, he reported that he had preached for six months. On 12 July 1845, he had organized a conference of 200 members in seven branches. Little work was done in North Carolina until March 1868 when a Southern convert, Henry G. Boyle, reported that he had held 40 public meetings, baptized 30 members and organized the Surrey County Branch. The Southern States Mission was created on 9 October 1876 to include North Carolina. Anti-Mormon sentiment in North Carolina was occasionally strong. On 16 January 1906, a newly completed meetinghouse on Harker’s Island was burned, and the missionaries were driven out by a mob but after the turn of the century, public attitudes generally improved and missionaries were offered more freedom to preach.