2015 – Peaks & Valleys • 3 RUGS Local Owners- Ronnie & Marcy 1145 HIGHWAY 64 WEST • MURPHY • (828) 837-2338 Bateman HOURS: MON.-TUES, FRI. 9AM-6PM; WED.-THURS. 9:30AM-6PM; SAT. 9AM-4PM; CLOSED SUNDAY 4 • Peaks & Valleys – 2015 History of Cherokee County...................................................................6ContentsHistory of churches in Cherokee County............................................32 Cherokee heritage dates back thousands of years...............................8 County based on community schools.................................................34 Touring Murphy Art Walk.......................................................................9 Cherokee County swimming pools in flux.........................................38 Art, River & Music Festival showcases local talents........................10 Wealth of knowledge at local libraries.................................................39 Spend the day at the park......................................................................12 Railroad rebirth the dream of county’s two mayors.........................41 Casino ready to change the landscape................................................14 Cherokee County winter............................................................................42 Folk school inspires mountain traditions...........................................14 Stocking the creek....................................................................................43 Speedway gears up for fifth season.....................................................16 Medical changing with the times..........................................................44 Visit Fields of the Wood – a holy park................................................18 Snakes alive in Cherokee County...........................................................45 Area offers many outdoor adventures.................................................20 Community centers in Cherokee County...........................................45 Plenty of mountain golfing options......................................................23 People, places and things in Cherokee County..................................46 Airport sees growth coming on the horizon.....................................24 Calendar of events...................................................................................48 Farmer’s markets abound in Cherokee County................................26 Fighting fires in Cherokee County........................................................53 Wagon Train saddles up to ride for 58th time..................................27 Law enforcement.....................................................................................53 Local organizations care for animals...................................................28 County polling places..............................................................................53 Anyone can ride.........................................................................................29 Cherokee County tax rates.....................................................................53 Getting on the road.................................................................................29 Local Government...................................................................................54 Taking out the trash................................................................................30 Places of worship......................................................................................55 A publication of the Layout and design by Christy Guthrie, composition manager; Cherokee Scout David Brown, publisher; Matthew Osborne, editor; Volume 25 • May 2015 Donna Cook and Dave Stevens, sales; 89 Sycamore St., Murphy, NC 28906 Ann Koles, graphic artist. Phone: 837-5122 • Fax: 837-5832 www.cherokeescout.com Cover design and photograph by Ryan Revock, staff photographer. Email: [email protected] This view of the train bridge that stretches across the Valley River [email protected] near the Murphy RiverWalk was captured on April 22. 2015 – Peaks & Valleys • 5 6 • Peaks & Valleys – 2015 History of Cherokee County RYAN REVOCK/[email protected] A view of Peachtree Street in downtown Murphy. Cherokee County has had seven courthouses and at least three were burned, including one that was torched by a troop of paramilitary raiders a few days after the official end of the Civil War. By DWIGHT OTWELL fortifications were constructed by the Army in real estate, tourism and related industries, [email protected] western North Carolina in preparation for the which provide diversity to local life. rom its lush valleys to it high peaks, Cher- Native Americans’ removal. Cherokee County has had seven courthouses okee County is home to a rich and varied Fort Butler, in what later became Murphy, and at least three were burned, including one Fhistory, a land where the Cherokee Indians was one of them. Cherokee were rounded up that was torched by a troop of paramilitary raid- roamed for thousands of years and European and began a treacherous walk, which became ers a few days after the official end of the Civil explorers discovered about 1540. known as the Trail of Tears, to Oklahoma. Many War. Word may not have reached the mountains Geologic evidence from scientists indicate Cherokee died on the trip. Ancestors of the that the battle was over. that hundreds of millions of years ago, Cherokee Cherokee who refused to leave and hid in the In 1927, part of the present courthouse was County’s borders were part of the ocean bed. local mountains make up a large portion of the completed. Locally quarried blue marble was The Appalachian mountains were formed from Cherokee who live in the region today. used to build it, and it is the only blue marble massive land plates colliding. The N.C. Legislature formed Cherokee Coun- structure of its kind in the world. The court- The Appalachians, which make ty, named after the Cherokee Indians, in 1839 house underwent an extensive renovation and up Cherokee County, reached from Macon County. expansion in 2012, but the historic aspects of altitudes that exceeded the Rocky Murphy, where the Hiwassee and Valley the old part of the courthouse were maintained Mountains of western America. rivers merge, was named after college professor, for future generations. The Appalachian Mountain range is the second educator and politician Archibald D. Murphey. Life in the entire area took a dramatic oldest on the planet. The name was misspelled, and the county seat is turn in the 1940s, when the Tennessee Valley The first human inhabitants of the county are still known as Murphy. Authority’s Hiwassee Dam brought electricity to unknown, but archaeologists believe the Cher- The only other municipality in Cherokee Cherokee County. okee had been here for several thousand years County is Andrews, which was created in 1905. Touted as being two hours from anywhere before Europeans appeared in 1540. Spanish The settlement had been called Valleytown and – but not necessarily that far – the county has explorers in search of gold and minerals prob- before that Jamestown. diversions of every kind near at hand. Within a ably were the first Europeans to travel through Cherokee County has been home to a variety roughly two-hour driving distance are attrac- Cherokee County. of industries. Throughout most of the 19th and tions in Asheville; Athens, Ga.; Atlanta; Chatta- In the 1820s, A.R.S. Hunter reached Chero- early 20th centuries, agriculture was the area’s nooga, Tenn.; the Cherokee Indian Reservation; kee County and built a log home near the Cher- main industry. Gatlinburg, Tenn.; Greenville, S.C.; Helen, Ga; okee settlement at the junction of the Hiwassee In 1879, there were 964 farms in the county. Knoxville, Tenn.; and Pigeon Forge, Tenn. and Valley rivers. He established a trading post, However, in 1945, there were only 2,007. The area is home to lakes, streams, whitewa- doing business with the Cherokee as well as U.S. Farming and other industries received a ter rafting, fishing, camping and hiking. Murphy soldiers. boost in the late 1880s, when the railroad made and Andrews provide sidewalks to stroll, shops The federal government made a treaty with a its way to Murphy. During the first half of the to visit, restaurants to dine in, bookstores, an- faction of the Cherokee that ceded all Cherokee 20th century, lumber companies, marble quar- tiques, ice cream, old-time stores, flea markets, lands east of the Mississippi River for new lands ries, talc mines, tanneries, textile mills and other arts and crafts, and movies. Harrah’s Cherokee in Oklahoma. Although the majority of the Cher- factories supported the local economy. Valley River Casino & Hotel is expected to open okee in North Carolina didn’t accept the treaty, As many of those industries left, the local in fall 2015, creating about 900 jobs and stimu- they were forced to relocate to Oklahoma. Six economy has been supported by construction, lating the economy. u 2015 – Peaks & Valleys • 7 8 • Peaks & Valleys – 2015 Cherokee heritage dates back thousands of years By DWIGHT OTWELL [email protected] herokee County, which originally was part of Macon CCounty, became official in 1839 in honor of the 17,000 Native Americans who were forced out of the area during the winter of 1838-39 in what today is called the infamous Trail of Tears. In 1830, President Andrew Jack- son signed the Indian Removal Act. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1832 upheld the tribe’s sovereignty, but that didn’t