Cherokee County, North Carolina - Wikipedia

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.[4][5] 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.[6] Early white farmers who wed Native Americans were granted property along the Nottley River in 1817.[7] 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.[8] A Baptist mission center was established in the area as early as 1820.[9] European Americans began to settle near present-day Murphy and a trading post was established prior to 1828.[10]

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.[11][12] Fort Butler was built near Murphy in July 1836 and early court trials were held there.[13] 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.[14]

In fall 1838, the area's land was put up for public sale in Franklin.[9] Cherokee County was formed in 1839 from Macon County and named for the Cherokee Native Americans.[15] A proposal to name the county Junaluska, in honor of the Cherokee leader, was rejected.[16] The county's first brick courthouse was constructed in 1844 in downtown Murphy.[17] Murphy was incorporated as the county seat in 1851.[18]

Cherokee County's first industry, a tannery northeast of what would become Andrews, was established by James Stewart in 1852.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]

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.[7] The train reached Murphy the following year.[22] The county's newspaper, the Cherokee Scout, was founded in 1889.[23] In 1892, Cherokee County was the site of a killing that changed legal history and is still studied by law students. Moonshiner William Hall got away with murder because his lawyers argued that though he was standing in North Carolina when he fired the shot, the crime happened across the state line in Tennessee and he couldn’t be convicted of murder in North Carolina. The state supreme court threw out Hall's conviction.[24][25]

20th century to present

The first known brick house in the county, the John Tatham House, was north of Andrews. It was destroyed in the early 1900s.[26] The Church of God denomination was organized in the Camp Creek area of Cherokee County around 1906.[27][28] In 1914, the U.S. Supreme Court settled a 22-year border dispute in which parts of northern Cherokee County were claimed by Tennessee. The land was awarded to North Carolina.[29] The Cherokee County Fair started in 1923.[30] The 43-inmate Cherokee County Jail was built in downtown Murphy in 1922. The current Cherokee County Courthouse was constructed next door four years later.[17] The jail was demolished in 2008 after a new 150-inmate detention center was completed on Regal Street.[31]

The nation's oldest and largest folk school, John C. Campbell Folk School, was founded in southeast Cherokee County in 1925.[32][33] US 64 to Hayesville opened in 1926. US 74 between Murphy and Andrews was created in 1927. The roads were paved in the 1940s.[34]

The county's first medical institution was Petrie Hospital, founded in November 1933 by Dr. R.W. Petrie, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist. The hospital was a two-story white brick building atop a hill on Peachtree Street in downtown Murphy. It started with four registered nurses and a capacity of 21 patients.[35] The Sisters of Providence of Holyoke came to Murphy in 1956 to manage Petrie Hospital and renamed it Providence Hospital.[36] The 22-bed Murphy General Hospital was built by Dr. F. V. Taylor in 1941 and closed in July 1969 due to insufficient staff and property.[37][38] In 1956, a $375,000, 30-bed non-profit regional hospital named District Memorial was constructed in Andrews.[39][40] In January 1974 the Murphy Town Council approved spending $4,000 on a study to see whether constructing a new hospital was feasible. Following this study, Providence Hospital closed in 1978 and Murphy Medical Center was founded in 1979.[41] Citing uncollected payments, District Memorial Hospital declared bankruptcy in 2000, closed soon afterward, and was demolished.[42][43]

In the late 1930s, Hiwassee Dam was built in northwest Cherokee County by the Tennessee Valley Authority, creating Hiwassee Lake.[44] It is the highest overspill dam in the Eastern United States and was the tallest in the world when it was completed in 1940.[45] A second TVA dam, Apalachia, was built near the Tennessee border in 1942.[46] Cherokee County operated on Central time until 1942. It is now located in the Eastern Time Zone.[47][48] Western Carolina Regional Airport, the westernmost general aviation airport in North Carolina, was built in 1946.[49][50] In the 1950s, the world's largest and most powerful pump was added to Hiwassee Dam.[37]

The Nantahala Regional Library, headquartered in Murphy, was organized in 1937. It is the oldest regional library in North Carolina and one of the first regional libraries formed in the United States.[51] In the early 1940s, religious tourist attraction Fields of the Wood opened in western Cherokee County with the world's largest Christian cross and biggest Ten Commandments, covering a mountainside.[37] In June 1955, the county health department moved into a new building at its current location.[37] Tri-County Community College was founded in Peachtree in late 1964.[52] Cherokee County's only animal shelter, Valley River Humane Society, was founded in Marble in 1969.[53] A four-lane highway was built between Murphy and Andrews around 1977.[54]

An F4 tornado in western Cherokee County killed four people (including two children) and injured 40 on April 3, 1974. It destroyed 45 homes near Murphy, causing $13 million (1974) in damages. The F4 was the deadliest of four tornadoes that struck the county during the first four days of April that year in the 1974 Super Outbreak.[55][56] An EF-2 tornado hit Murphy the night of March 2, 2012, in the Tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2012, damaging businesses and temporarily closing two schools. An EF-1 tornado hit the Peachtree community on the night of May 8, 2024, in the Tornado outbreak of May 6–9, 2024.[57] The Cherokee County Historical Museum was founded in 1977 and occupies a former Carnegie Library building in downtown Murphy.[58]

In 2014, the U.S. Forest Service made the decision to close Hanging Dog Campground in Nantahala National Forest.[59] A proposal to open a 1,200-acre state park at the site was dismissed by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in 2023, as officials said the project would cost more than $20 million.[60] In 2025, Cherokee County's board of commissioners unanimously approved a petition to the federal government stating that the U.S. Forest Service owns too much land in the county, restricting private and commercial development, particularly along Hiwassee Lake. The petition further stated that the Forest Service is incapable of maintaining its property, hampering wildfire control, and it called on the agency to loosen logging restrictions. Lastly, the commission called for the Forest Service to relinquish property for a state park in the county.[61] In 2026, commissioners reluctantly rescinded the petition after several thousand people signed a protest against converting public land to be used for commercial development. However, commissioners continued to call for the Forest Service to provide land on Hiwassee Lake for a state park.[62] Tourism has become a major industry for Cherokee County.[63] As of 2024, the tourism industry employs more than 600 people in the county and generates more than $100 million in annual visitor spending.[64]