Cherokee County, North Carolina: History
This area was occupied for thousands of years by indigenous peoples who settled in the river valleys. It was part of the historic Cherokee homelands, a large territory composed of areas of what are now western Virginia, western North and South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and northeastern Georgia.
The area that would become Cherokee County was explored by Spanish conquistador Hernando DeSoto as early as 1540. In 1813, the first highway was built through the area. The Unicoi Turnpike was the first to link East Tennessee, North Georgia, and Western North Carolina. Early white farmers who wed Native Americans were granted property along the Nottley River in 1817. In 1819, the state line separating Cherokee County from Tennessee was surveyed. The plan was to follow the highest ridges to the Georgia line. However, at Unicoi Gap surveyors immediately turned south for 15 miles, reportedly because they ran out of liquor and heard there was a moonshine still at the Georgia line. Had the surveyors followed the plan, the Tennessee cities of Ducktown and Copperhill would have been in Cherokee County. A Baptist mission center was established in the area as early as 1820. European Americans began to settle near present-day Murphy and a trading post was established prior to 1828.
The Old Tatham House at the base of Pisgah Road near Andrews was built in 1833. The two-story log cabin built by Thomas Tatham is the oldest surviving structure in the county. Fort Butler was built near Murphy in July 1836 and early court trials were held there. Fort Delaney was built by the East Tennessee Mounted Volunteers in present-day Andrews in October 1837. Both forts served as U.S. Army posts for the forced removal of Cherokee people during the Trail of Tears in June 1838.
In fall 1838, the area's land was put up for public sale in Franklin. Cherokee County was formed in 1839 from Macon County and named for the Cherokee Native Americans. A proposal to name the county Junaluska, in honor of the Cherokee leader, was rejected. The county's first brick courthouse was constructed in 1844 in downtown Murphy. Murphy was incorporated as the county seat in 1851.
Cherokee County's first industry, a tannery northeast of what would become Andrews, was established by James Stewart in 1852. As European-American population increased in the area in the 19th century, the state legislature created new counties. In 1861 the southeastern part of Cherokee County became Clay County. In 1872, its northeastern part was separated and organized as Graham County.
Harshaw Chapel, the oldest brick structure and church building in Cherokee County, was constructed in 1869. In the late 19th century, there was widespread interest in Native American cultures. In the 1870s, the Valentine brothers of Richmond, Virginia, caused extensive damage to at least eight ancient mounds in Cherokee, Haywood, Jackson, and Swain counties. They roughly excavated and looted them, seeking artifacts for the museum of their father, Mann S. Valentine, which he operated in Richmond.
The railroad came to Cherokee County in 1887, with Georgia & North Carolina Railroad's narrow gauge line from Marietta to Culberson – then the largest town in the county. The train reached Murphy the following year. The county's newspaper, the Cherokee Scout, was founded in 1889. In 1892, Cherokee County was the site of a killing that changed legal history and is still studied by law students. …