Belmont Abbey, about 15 km east of Gastonia in the town of Belmont, is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1876 — the only territorially abbatial jurisdiction in the United States. The Abbey Basilica on campus is the principal attraction: a soaring Gothic Revival church with stained-glass windows that won a gold medal at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The windows, created by F.X. Zettler of Munich, are among the finest examples of late 19th-century German ecclesiastical glass in North America.
The college campus (Belmont Abbey College) surrounding the monastery has a pleasant, unhurried character unusual for an American liberal arts college. Walking tours of the campus and basilica are available. The abbey bakery sells bread and baked goods made by the monks on weekdays.