Realty Tips
Local Links
Sample Contracts

Murphy is a town in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,568 at the 2000 census. Murphy is the county seat of Cherokee County[3] and is the westernmost county seat in North Carolina. It is closer to the capitals of six other states (Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, SMurphy is a town in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,568 at the 2000 census. Murphy is the county seat of Cherokee County[3] and is the westernmost county seat in North Carolina. It is closer to the capitals of six other states (Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, and West Virginia) than to Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. Murphy was named for North Carolina politician Archibald Murphey.

Murphy sits along the Hiwassee River, was known to the Cherokee as Tlanusi-yi (the Leech Place), because of a legend about a giant leech named Tlanusi that lived in the river there.

The Trading Path (later called the "Unicoi Turnpike") passed by the future site of Murphy, connecting the Cherokee lands east of the mountains with the "Overhill Towns" of Tennessee.

In 1836, during the Cherokee removal known as the Trail of Tears, the United States army built Fort Butler in what is today Murphy. Fort Butler acted as the main collection point for Cherokee east of the mountains. From Fort Butler the Cherokee were taken over the mountains on the Unicoi Turnpike to the main internment camps at Fort Cass (today Charleston, Tennessee). Today the Unicoi Turnpike is known as Joe Brown Highway. The Cherokee County Historical Museum located in Murphy provides information about the Trail of Tears.

Murphy was once the terminus of the Murphy Branch rail line built in the late 1800s, although the branch no longer reaches Murphy.

Murphy was also the home of the once well-known crafts manufacturer Margaret Studios, which operated a nationwide chain of gift stores for its woodcraft products and housewares, such as lazy susans and gift trays.

Murphy Trivia
Eric Rudolph, the fugitive who was responsible for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and other deadly bombings, was arrested in Murphy on May 31, 2003.

Carl Pickens, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals, was born and played high school football in Murphy.

Christian rock band Petra performed their final concert in Murphy on December 31, 2005.

Murphy is mentioned extensively in "A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins, as the author spent several months living with a local family and working at a sawmill nearby.

Folklorist John Jacob Niles based his Christmas song I Wonder As I Wander on a phrase he heard in a song sung by the young daughter of a group of traveling evangelicals in downtown Murphy on July 16, 1933.

Mark Deweese, All-American Cross Country and Track runner was born in Murphy and attended Murphy High.