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 the Joe Brown Highway . Fort Butler is no longer a structure , but the site can be visited with historical markers to read . The Cherokee County Historical Museum located in Murphy provides information about the Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Murphy, North Carolina