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Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com Mountain Men from Shepherd of the Mountains Church in Murphy spent around 200 hours over one year renovating the site of Fort Butler, a former U.S. Army post that was part of the Trail of Tears period in the 1830s.
Murphy – Fort Butler played a major role in local history, both in the development of the town and with the Cherokee Indians, who were funneled through the fort during a period of the 19th century called the Trail of Tears.
By the late 1830s, Fort Butler was the headquarters of the Eastern Division of the U.S. Army overseeing the Cherokee Nation. It included troop barracks, officers’ quarters, offices, shops, kitchens and other buildings. According to historical accounts, troops fresh from the Second Seminole War in Florida were assigned to the fort.
During the early summer of 1838, more than 3,000 Cherokee from western North Carolina and northern Georgia passed through Fort Butler along the Unicoi Turnpike (Joe Brown Highway) en route to a larger camp at Fort Hass, Tenn.
As the Cherokee were displaced, what would become Murphy took root, starting as a trading post, then an Army town, to the county seat of Cherokee County and center of commerce in far-western North Carolina.
More recently, the fort was barely recognizable until the Murphy Civitan Club, now defunct, cleaned up the nearly 1-acre lot off of Fort Butler Street. Those measures were soon overtaken by overgrowth, neglect and abuse.
In 2022, the Mountain Men of Shepherd of the Mountain Church in Murphy took the decrepit site under their care.
Volunteers, none of whom wish to be identified because they all deserve credit, spent 200 hours over the span of a year cutting back overgrowth, hauling off trimmings and trash and rebuilding the park, which is owned by the Town of Murphy. The town donated gravel and mulch for the project.
The park, which overlooks downtown Murphy across the Hiwassee River, now features a walking trail, benches, an informational kiosk and a granite marker. The kiosk is still a work in progress, with the Mountain Man reaching out to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to help make the site a memorial for the struggles that Cherokee faced in the 1830s.
The Mountain Men’s goal is to serve like Christ by providing light construction and manpower to the locally disadvantaged and their church home while working together as Christ’s body.
The Mountain Men ministry meets at 7:30 a.m. on the second Wednesday of every month for breakfast, fellowship and to discuss community building projects for the coming month. For details, visit shepherdchurchnc.com.