what year did john reed sell the first gold nugget

Many of the adjacent shafts of the Rudisill mine ran parallel to South Mint Street, in what is now known as the “Gold District” of the South End neighborhood. Rivafinoli lived in an opulent house on South Tryon and West Morehead streets, steps from one of the primary shafts of the Rudisill mine, located at the intersection of South Mint Street and Summit Avenue. Catherine mines, two of the most active and successful of the region’s mining operations. With institutional financial backing from the old country and a mandate to seek a fortune under what is now the heart of South End, Rivafinoli would ultimately acquire the leases on the Rudisill and St. Rivafinoli arrived in Charlotte sometime around 1830, a representative from an English mining company that sought to speculate in the Charlotte region. The amount of gold extracted from Charlotte-area mines would double from 1830 to 1833, in large part due to the sophisticated mining operations that developed around the city. What was it about bucolic Charlotte that would attract such a character? Gold, and lots of it.īeginning with 12-year-old Conrad Reed’s discovery of a 17-pound gold nugget in Cabarrus County in 1799, Charlotte’s gold rush would grow into a serious industry in the region in the first half of the 19th century.

Sporting the title of “Chevalier” - the title of an Italian knight (supposedly earned in military service under Napoleon ) - Rivafinoli could often be seen walking down Morehead Street to oversee his interests in the active gold mines in uptown. I am, of course, talking about Count Chevalier Vincent de Rivafinoli, who operated some of the region’s most important mining interests during Charlotte’s gold rush of the 1830s.įor the burgeoning town of Charlotte with a population of under 2,000, a purported Italian nobleman like Rivafinoli was certainly an ostentatious sight to behold. When he strutted down Morehead Street, everyone could tell he was The Man. He would walk the streets, stylin’ and profilin’ along one of the grand boulevards of the city with his gold-tipped cane. He lived in the biggest house, on the biggest hill, on the biggest side of town. At one time, Charlotte’s sleepy streets were brought to life by a sharp-dressed character, larger than life and long on bravado.ĭespite his sudden appearance in town and questionable origins, he boasted hundreds of loyal followers who bought into his panache and followed his lead.

What year did john reed sell the first gold nugget