Charlotte Country Day School

History

Charlotte Country Day School was founded as an independent school in 1941 by headmaster Dr. Thomas Burton. The school opened in September 1941 with 18 students matriculating. By 1945 the Country Day included grades 1 – 8 and had an enrollment of 56 students on a six-acre school site on Sardis Road in suburban Charlotte.

Charlotte Country Day School is rivals with Providence Day School.

The estate of the Martin L. Cannon Jr. made a gift in 1958 that allowed the school to build a new eight building campus on a 30-acre site donated by Mr. and Mrs. James G. Harris on Carmel Road. With the opening of the Cannon Campus, Country Day expanded to a K – 12 college preparatory school. The new campus increased total enrollment capacity from 235 students to 400 students. In 1962 the school graduated its first class of 15 high school seniors.

The advent of busing in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system caused many independent schools in the region to experience rapid growth in the early 1970s. Country Day had started in 1941 and was not founded in response to desegregation, but it saw an influx of hundreds of new applications during this period. Journalists found it likely that its enrollment benefitted from parents seeking to avoid busing in the public school system. By the 1974-75 school year, Country Day had grown to total enrollment of 873 students in grades K-12.

In 1980 Country Day merged with Carmel Academy, one of several independent schools established in Mecklenburg County in the wake of the Swann decision in 1971. The merger put Carmel Academy, previously operating with no endowment, on more secure financial footing. After combining the schools, middle school grades 5 – 8 moved to the Carmel Academy campus (today referred to as the Bissell campus), about four miles away from the main Cannon campus. The newly combined school changed its mascot from the Rebels to the Buccaneers as part of the merger.

Cannon campus

Cannon Campus for grades JK–4 and 9–12 has 15 buildings, including a full-service dining hall, two libraries, a 400-seat theater, two reading gardens, and multiple computer labs.

The Cannon campus was newly renovated at the end of 2018. The Purdy Math and Science building is the newest addition to the Cannon campus. A new state of the art gym, called Harris Performance Gym, featuring one of Charlotte’s first high school Jumbotrons, a Natatorium, with a huge video board as a scoreboard, and a wonderful concourse. Country Day now has two active gyms, one for lower school PE, and another for varsity basketball games.

Bissell campus

Bissell Campus, where CCDS students in grades 5–8 attend classes, underwent extensive renovations in 2009. The 23,000 sqft Dowd Science Building was completed, which added eight science lecture/lab classrooms and two general purpose classrooms. The old science building was renovated to create six foreign language classrooms. Grounds enhancements included a new entryway and fencing, a new front courtyard, and new tennis courts and practice fields. Margret and Smokey Bissell gave this campus. Elsewhere on Bissell Campus, the Sklut Center has three art rooms, the cafeteria, and the general music room. A separate building is dedicated entirely to the natural sciences.

Notable alumni

• Zac Alley – college football coach
• Kristen Anderson-Lopez – songwriter
• William Byron – professional NASCAR driver
• Mike CoferNFL kicker, two-time Super Bowl champion, and NASCAR driver
• Brandon Millerprofessional soccer player
• Wes Millercollege basketball head coach and former player
• Alvin PearmanNFL running back
• Tripp Phillipsformer professional tennis player

References

References

1. "Tuition and Financial Aid".
2. "Charlotte Country Day School Profile".
3. (August 27, 1941). "Country Day School To Buy Site". The Charlotte News.
4. (August 31, 1941). "STUART CRAMER HOME SELECTED". The Charlotte Observer.
5. "Our History - Charlotte Country Day".
6. (October 23, 1958). "Day School Building". The Charlotte Observer.
7. (November 13, 1959). "Country Day Contract Is Awarded". The Charlotte Observer.
8. Maniloff, Howard. (November 20, 1972). "Schools' White Flight Slowing". The Charlotte Observer.
9. Maniloff, Howard. (November 20, 1972). "Schools' White Flight Slowing, Continued". The Charlotte Observer.
10. (October 24, 2013). "The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South". Princeton University Press.
11. (1976). "The schools that fear built: segregationist academies in the South". Acropolis Books.
12. Paddock, Polly. (October 6, 1974). "Busing Spurs Growth In Private Schools". The Charlotte Observer.
13. (October 6, 1974). "Busing Spurs Growth In Private Schools". The Charlotte Observer.
14. Shepard, Charles E.. (September 26, 1979). "Carmel Academy, Country Day Merging". The Charlotte Observer.
15. "5 Things You May Not Know About Our Middle School".
16. Gaultney. (September 27, 1980). "Country Day". The Charlotte News.
17. "CCDS - Charlotte Country Day School: About Us » at a Glance".
18. "Athletics - Independent Schools in NC{{!}} Charlotte Country Day".
19. "Grow. Build. Accelerate: The Campaign for Students Summary and 2008–09 Annual Giving Report." 2009, pg. 7.
20. (February 21, 2019). [https://charlotte49ers.com/news/2019/2/21/football-healy-adds-alley-to-coaching-staff Healy Adds Alley to Coaching Staff]. ''charlotte49ers.com''. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
21. (September 11, 2015). [https://thescl.com/ambassador-program/kristen-anderson-lopez-and-robert-lopez/ Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez]. ''thescl.com''. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
22. (2024-04-12). "William Byron '16 Wins Daytona 500".
23. "Mike Cofer Stats".
24. [https://uncwsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/brandon-miller/3533 Brandon Miller - Men's Soccer - UNC Wilmington]. ''uncwsports.com''. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
25. (March 14, 2018). Bonnell, Rick. [https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/college/article205230964.html Despite the losing, UNC-G stuck by their young coach. How Wes Miller led Spartans to NCAAs]. ''The Charlotte Observer''. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
26. "Alvin Pearman Stats".
27. [https://goheels.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/tripp-phillips/9523 Tripp Phillips - Men's Tennis - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]. Retrieved December 7, 2020.