North Carolina
Charlotte map collector preserves North Carolina’s mapping history
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Since the Declaration of Independence was signed nearly 250 years ago, maps have played an important role in the development of our country, including here in North Carolina.
But interestingly enough, some of the most important maps in North Carolina weren’t about roads or how to get around.
If you were to visit Chuck Ketchie’s home in Charlotte, you would find it filled with maps…thousands of them.
When asked why he was so fascinated with maps, he said he had to credit his father, who loved history.
Ketchie’s collection includes maps of North Carolina, maps of grist mills, terrain, cities, and towns. He has original maps of just about everything in North Carolina dating back to the 1600s.
“And what they do is they pinpoint the exact location of all the place names in the history of North Carolina,” said Ketchie. “The towns, the communities, post office, churches, cemeteries, mountains, streams, all the place names that have ever been on a map throughout North Carolina history, going back 17 hundred years, are now put on a scaled county map.”
Maps have changed considerably over time. They’re much more detailed now thanks to technology and updated mapping systems. Compare that to the 1700s when the Battle of Kings Mountain was fought. The battle helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War.
But the map that was used by both sides in the conflict was not as detailed as you might expect, according to Ketchie.
“So what they were looking for with those were, I think, from my military friend, Tom, Waypoints, where the creek, where the fords were, I mean, that was the most important things for those maps, where they could cross the major rivers at, or were strategic locations looking for mills, that early map that I said had 30 mills on it,” Ketchie said. “So they would notice that, and that would be a strategic item possibly, you know, during that war for both sides.”
Maps played an important role in the early development of North Carolina, but not necessarily because of the routes and roadways they showed.
“Those would be county soil maps that were done between 1900 and 1920 by the state of North Carolina to promote our agriculture,” Ketchie said.
In order to attract more people and business to North Carolina, the state used maps to show potential farmers what good soil was available and where.
These older maps are a wonderful window into the history and growth in the state.
“So for historians doing research on their family and they can’t find the town that their grandfather or grandma was born in, it might have changed names or it might have gone away,” Ketchie said. “A lot of towns have gone away. When the post office went through their cleaning period, 1903 was one, a lot of communities disappeared because that was their only mark on the map was a post office, basically.”
When you look at early maps of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, it makes you appreciate just how much the city and county have grown over the years.
“The earliest map from the Spratt collection is 1872,” Ketchie said. “And that’s the William Springs property that went from Providence, Providence Road to Providence, Sharon Amity.”
And a fun fact, Ketchie said most of these early maps were drawn by members of one family.
“Now the Spratts were the official county surveyors in Mecklenburg County from around 1920 up until 1970 when they got rid of the position of official county surveyor,” Ketchie said.
One other aspect beyond what the maps show, and they certainly show a lot, is simply the fact that they are works of art.
“The ones in the 20s, or I mean, they were done on a starched linen paper, which is a unique paper. And these things are 100 years old,” Ketchie said. “It looks like they were done yesterday. So the craftsmanship, you know, some of them have a million lines meeting, and there’s not one. These are hand-drawn maps.”
Ketchie is now in the process of digitizing all those maps and indexing each little nook and cranny on them.
It’s a huge project, but a labor of love for Ketchie, who majored in geography in college.
He’s a printer by trade, and all this map stuff is actually a hobby for him.
Copyright 2025 WBTV. All rights reserved.
With one exception, Democrats have lost every single U.S. Senate race in North Carolina this century, their quests in recent years rocked by controversy and difficult political climates. This year, they are betting two things will make it different: The candidate is Roy Cooper, the southern state’s former governor, and the economy, where voter anger could imperil the party in power.
Months out from Election Day, Cooper’s Senate campaign is centering his message on economic anxiety. In his first television ad of the cycle — details of which were first reported by MS NOW — Cooper weaves his personal story with the kitchen-table concerns preoccupying voters.
“I’m running for the Senate to make life easier today,” Cooper says in the spot, which his campaign says is part of a seven-figure ad buy. “To go after insurance companies ripping you off. To make sure you can retire with dignity. And to build an economy that finally values working people.”
The North Carolina race is primed to be one of the most important contests of this fall’s midterms as he attempts to flip control of one of North Carolina’s U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 2008. The recruitment of Cooper — a two-term governor who was elected both times while Trump carried the state in the same election cycle — has buoyed the party’s hopes.
This is also a contest in which Trump’s influence is clearly a factor. The president has thrown his support behind former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, pitting a candidate with deep ties to Trump against Cooper, who has long demonstrated an ability to win in the state despite national political headwinds.
SHELBY, N.C. — A former North Carolina police officer caught on a doorbell camera repeatedly punching a woman in the face was charged Monday with assault.
The video of Shelby Officer Karson Hyder pummeling Cherrie Moore on Friday has circulated widely on social media.
Hyder, 22, turned himself in to the Cleveland County Detention Center Monday morning and was released on a $10,000 secured bond. Court records do not list an attorney for him, and a phone number associated with his name was out of service.
Hyder, who was suspended Friday and fired on Saturday, was responding to a breaking-and-entering call when the scuffle ensued.
According to a warrant, Moore, 34, fled the residence on foot and resisted arrest, assaulting Hyder by “grabbing and ripping (his) uniform.”
A separate warrant filed Monday alleged Hyder “unlawfully and willfully did assault and strike Cherrie Moore” by grabbing Moore “by the arm, pushing her to the ground and striking her in the face with a closed fist, thereby inflicting serious injury possible broken nose and busted lip.”
The State Bureau of Investigation had announced Saturday it had opened an investigation into Hyder.
Moore was initially charged with breaking and entering, resisting arrest and assault on a public officer, but the latter two charges have since been dismissed. She was freed on an unsecured bond. A phone number associated with Moore was disconnected.
Her attorney, Ronald Haynes, told The Associated Press in an email that Moore “is recovering and receiving treatment for her mental health.”
“The heinous actions of former Officer Karson Hyder will forever negatively impact Ms. Cherrie Moore and her family,” Haynes continued. “It’s a small relief that city officials responded so promptly to terminate and charge Mr. Hyder.”
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
North Carolina
North Carolina investigators use drone to arrest man in fatal shooting of Virginia deputy
DOBSON, N.C. — Investigators in North Carolina used a drone to find and arrest a man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a Virginia sheriff’s deputy who was conducting a welfare check, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as Michael Puckett, was found with a gun on Sunday night, two days after the shooting, as he was ringing the doorbell of a home several miles away from the Virginia state line. He was arrested in North Carolina’s Surry County and was booked without bond, the state’s bureau of investigation said in a news release. Multiple law enforcement agencies took part in the search.
Puckett, 55, faced an extradition hearing Monday in North Carolina. He did not have an attorney listed, a court clerk said. It was not immediately known where Puckett was from.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said the fatal shooting occurred after law enforcement received a request from a family member to do a welfare check on Friday.
A man at the home began shooting, and the two sheriff’s deputies who had responded returned fire, the sheriff’s office said. Both deputies were hit.
Carroll County Sheriff Kevin Kemp said Deputy Logan Utt was killed. The second deputy, who was struck in his ballistic vest, was recovering at home and was in good condition, Kemp said at a news conference Sunday night.
Other people were in the home at the time. They were not hurt, Kemp said.
Utt, 31, was a military veteran who joined the department in 2023. A funeral procession was scheduled Monday afternoon from Roanoke, Virginia, to a funeral home in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
“He had a servant’s heart. He cared for others, he cared for his country, he cared for his family,” Kemp said.
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