Gaston County offers you a wonderful combination of gardens, parks, historic sites, and shopping delights to make your visit so enjoyable you'll want to return again and again. See the most interesting and beautiful attractions in Gaston County with our self-guided Magnolia Tour. Gaston County contains 95 parks and recreation facilities encompassing over 4,653 acres.
Gaston County has connections to many movies made for theaters and television in recent years. Tom Hanks’ hit movie "Cast Away" features primitive tools such as an ice-skate ax, a coconut canteen and stone flakes conceived by Steve Watts of Gastonia’s Schiele Museum. Steve, an expert in primitive tools and artifacts, also coached screenwriter Bill Broyles on survival skills which he later incorporated into the "Cast Away" script. Visitors can see samples of the primitive tools Hanks used in a special exhibit at the Schiele.
Gaston County has for years attracted shopping-minded visitors. Mary Jo’s Cloth Store in Gaston Mall is the largest fabric store in the Southeast, and continues to draw customers from around the world. Luxury Fabrics is also a landmark for shopping. Nowhere is the quality of shopping better reflected than in the local malls. Westfield Shoppingtown at Eastridge, with its 100 stores, ranks fourth largest in the Carolinas. Franklin Square, which opened in 1989, has grown into three shopping centers and offers just about everything you need in over 1 million square feet. Gaston Mall and Akers Center continue their traditions of quality and selection.
