Just 30 minutes west of Charlotte, Gastonia Conference Center's central location in downtown Gastonia at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Marietta Avenue is convenient to I-85, I-77, and I-485 and is approximately:

• 15 min from
  Belmont Abbey College
• 27 min from Charlotte Douglas International Airport

• 50 min from
  Rock Hill, SC
• 2 hours from
  Columbia, SC
• 3 hours from
  Raleigh, NC
• 4 hours from
  Wilmington, NC

The City of Gastonia's slogan, "Great Place, Great People, Great Promise," succinctly describes why people and businesses located here rarely leave. A three-time All American City and recent recipient of the U.S. Conference of Mayors top Livability Award, Gastonia is recognized as one of the area's best places to live and work with an ideal combination of location, size, and quality of life. Those factors, combined with the City's strategic location just minutes west of Charlotte and midway between Atlanta and North Carolina's Research Triangle, attract both industry and new residents.

Gastonia is the largest of Gaston County's 15 municipalities, 13th largest city in the state, and the second largest in the booming Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill Metropolitan Area. Gastonia's enviable quality of life is the result of a number of desirable qualities: friendly neighborhoods, an award winning educational system, state-of-the-art health care facilities, and "picture postcard" natural surroundings.

Gastonia is the county seat of Gaston County and the largest city in the area after Charlotte. A robust revitalization of its downtown area is helping Gastonia recapture a strong sense of community and belonging. Gastonia is a destination again. The new Arts on Main district is the center of an emerging arts colony boasting dozens of shops and outlets for working artists representing generations of interpretive art.