Murphy

… town and county seat, central Cherokee County at the junction of Hiwassee and Valley Rivers. Alt. 1,535. Site known first as Christie Ford for an Indian named Christie who lived there. Later called Huntersville for Col. A. R. S. Hunter, who est. a trading post there with the Cherokee Indians about 1830. Inc. as Murphy, 1851, and named for Archibald Debow Murphey (1758-1832), leader for internal improvements in North Carolina. Fort Butler, site ¼ mi. sw, was one of the assembly points used by Gen. Winfield Scott in 1838 to gather Cherokees before moving them west. The fort served as a site for the first courts until a suitable building was erected in Murphy. Produces textiles and lumber.