Murphy – Although he and his relatives are well-known throughout the county, 59-year-old David Alan Hughes recently solidified the family’s place in local history.
Hughes transferred the intellectual property rights of a blanket he designed more than 15 years ago to the Cherokee County Historical Museum on Peachtree Street downtown.
“I’m proud the museum is able to carry this on,” Hughes told the Cherokee Scout. “I think it’s something that will be cherished by many for generations.”
Hughes designed the afghan while working as manager of King’s Leather Craft on U.S. 64 West in Ranger. The idea spawned from seeing similar blankets featuring other geographical areas.
“I thought, ‘Why not do one for Murphy?’ ” he recalled. “I did my research, figured out which buildings I wanted to use on the afghan and then I started collecting artwork.”
The afghan features several local historical buildings, some of which are no longer standing.
“Many of the buildings I put on the afghan have special meanings to me,” Hughes said. “I grew up in Murphy First Baptist Church, but it’s no longer there. I had some classes in the old dome building on the campus of Murphy Elementary School, and I was in the fifth grade when they tore that building down. The old Regal Hotel also holds special memories because my brother and I went in there as children to visit a hardware store that we liked.”
Hughes used to allow the museum to sell a few afghans as well. He stopped selling the blankets out of King’s Leather Craft about seven years ago due to the quantity required to reorder the product from the manufacturer. The business closed in 2018.
“The family was aging, and it had come to a point in life where it was hard for brick-and-mortar stores to compete with online businesses,” Hughes said when asked why his in-laws decided to close King’s Leather Craft.
Museum officials contacted Hughes to see if he had an afghan that he could donate to the organization. Hughes decided to go one step further and transfer the design’s intellectual property rights for free so the museum could profit from selling them.
“They were very popular with the people; they sold like hotcakes,” museum board member and local historian Billy Ray Palmer said.
Hughes does not recall how many blankets he has sold over the years, but he believes they have traveled to all parts of the country.
“I’ve had people tell me that they were buying them for their parents or children who had moved away as a reminder of their hometown,” he said. “I was born and raised here. I’ve seen a lot of changes in Murphy during my lifetime. That afghan is a reflection of a lot of the buildings that are no longer here.
“I’m proud to be part of Murphy’s history.”
The museum remains closed to the public due to COVID-19. However, citizens can pre-order a blanket by contacting museum Director Terrisa Carringer at 837-6792. Carringer expects the first shipment of afghans to be available by Oct. 16.