Peachtree, North Carolina, from the air in September 2023
Peachtree is a community located in Cherokee County, North Carolina.[1] It is named after the numerous peach trees found in the area. The local schools are Peachtree Elementary School, Murphy and Andrews Middle School, and Murphy and Andrews High School.
Due to its central location near the border of Cherokee and Clay counties, Peachtree has also been home to major institutions serving the area. The Cherokee County Prison Camp opened in 1939 but was abandoned after 25 years following multiple escapes.[2] Its property became the main campus of Tri-County Community College, which opened in 1964 and serves Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties.[3]Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital, the only hospital in North Carolina west of Franklin and Bryson City, was founded in Peachtree in 1979.[4]
In 2003, Moog Inc. established a manufacturing facility in Peachtree employing more than 400 people to build motors and blowers for the aerospace industry.[5] Also, the $20 million, 66,000-square-foot Cherokee County School of Innovation & Technology campus opened in 2023.[6]
Cherokee Native Americans had a courthouse building named the Hiwassee Townhouse located in Peachtree.[7] Around 1755, after being scattered by war, the Natchez Native Americans also established a town near Peachtree.[8][9] In 1820, a Baptist Mission School at the Natchez town was founded by Rev. Evan Jones.[9] The Native Americans were forcibly removed from the area during the summer of 1838 via the Trail of Tears.[7]
In 1837, settlers established a Baptist church in Peachtree.[10] Peachtree had its own post office from 1839 to 1866 and again between 1878 and 1907.[11] The community was considered as a site for the Western Carolina Regional Airport, which was later constructed 8 miles (13 km) northeast in Marble.[12] The community was formerly the site of the "Murphy Drive-In" movie theater. The theater's screen was flattened by high winds in 1974.[13]
In the early 2020s Peachtree was the planned site of a single consolidated high school for Cherokee County, combining Andrews, Hiwassee Dam, and Murphy high schools. In 2023, however, new members of the Cherokee County Board of Education voted against the plan.[14]
On the night of May 8, 2024, an EF-1 tornado hit Peachtree, as part of the Tornado outbreak of May 6–9, 2024.[15] One home was destroyed and seven suffered major damage.[16] This is the most recent confirmed tornado in Cherokee County, the previous being around 2018. A tornado was said to have also hit Peachtree on March 3, 2023.
^ abHyatt, Jr., Bass (2018). "Cherokee Indian Removal". In Avett, Wally (ed.). Brasstown Valley Myths & History. Blairsville, Georgia: Straub Publishing. p. 17-21. ISBN9780991372669.
