Derita (Charlotte neighborhood)

The Derita Community is located several miles north of Charlotte NC's center city, is bordered by I-77 to the west, I-85 to the east, the University area and WT Harris Blvd to the north. Its business district is centered along West Sugar Creek Rd.

Even before the Community became established with stores, a school and churches in 1860, Derita was a made up of large family farms carved from the forests and fields where the Sugaree Indians had made flint arrowheads and hunted for wild game. Those early settlers did it all. They raised livestock, sold milk, eggs and cheese. They grew corn, grains, fresh vegetables, cotton and tobacco. Some mined for gold, others for silver. Operators of two local mineral springs supplied bottled water by the wagonload to thirsty Charlotte businesses. On Sundays after Church, folks regularly came from miles around to picnic at Derita Springs and to listen to violin and banjo players perform for an impromptu hoedown. Three months each year (during the farming off-season) residents financed a school for boys known as Derita Academy.