The Trading Path (later called the 'Unicoi Turnpike') passed by the future site of Murphy, connecting the Cherokee lands east of the mountains with what were known to European colonists as the ' Overhill Towns' of Tennessee. They had a legend about a giant leech named Tlanusi, that lived in the river here. They knew this site along the Hiwassee River as Tlanusi-yi (the Leech Place). This area had long been part of the homelands of the Cherokee people. The population of Murphy was 1,608 at the 2020 census. It is the westernmost county seat in the state of North Carolina, approximately 360 miles (580 km) from the state capital in Raleigh.
It is situated at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Valley rivers. Murphy is a town in and the county seat of Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States.
