Regal on the route

Motoring through the Mountains - 1930s: Regal

Cherokee County
Altitude: 1,680 feet

As in other communities in western North Carolina, the families of Marble, near Regal, took an interest in the education of their children. This Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) article from its November 18, 1927, issue illustrated the pride that parents had in their children’s accomplishments.

Another event from this time period occurred when the town of Marble received street lighting from Nantahala Power and Light Company in 1930, along with twenty-nine other town customers. Although the town had been incorporated in the early 1910s, the residents of Marble relinquished the town’s charter in 1939.

In its June 15, 1934, issue, the Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) commented on the area around the communities of Marble, Regal, and Andrews by noting that,

“Marble, nine miles east of Murphy is the scene of a large-scale marble development. The cutting and finishing plant and quarries of the Columbia Marble company are located here. The plant is one of the largest of such plants in the south. . . . The Appalachian Veneer company, at Regal, three miles east of Murphy, has one of the largest veneer plants in Western North Carolina, with a capacity of more than two million board feet annually. . . . The highway system of the county includes state and national truck line routes, and a system of fairly good secondary soil and gravel roads. . . . The Nantahala power company, a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America, owns and operates a dam and power house on the Hiawassee river about seven miles east of Murphy, and furnishes power for the towns of Andrews and Marble, and the marble quarry and finishing plant at the latter place.”

In the 1939 book produced by the Federal Writer’s Project, North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State, the community of Marble was listed for its “Museum of Arthur Palmer.” The museum, the work of Arthur Palmer, contained artifacts primarily from Cherokee County. According to the book’s description, the museum’s collections were,

“. . . housed in a tar-paper shack. The collection includes furniture, farm implements, muskets, and cooking utensils used by the early settlers. There are also Cherokee relics taken from mounds and samples of minerals found in the section.”

In the late 1970s the holdings became part of the Cherokee County Historical Museum.

Regal in the 1890s  |  Regal in the 1910s

To the West: Murphy

directions

To the East: Andrews


Return to the Map for the 1930s



Sources & Readings

  • Cherokee County Historical Museum. A Pictorial History of Cherokee County. Murphy, N.C.: Cherokee County Historical Museum, 1995.
  • Federal Writers’ Project of the Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration. North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1939.
  • Freel, Margaret Walker. Our Heritage, The People of Cherokee County, North Carolina, 1540 – 1955. Asheville, N.C.: Miller Print. Co., 1956 [c1957].
  • “History of the Nantahala Power and Light Company.” Typescript, Nantahala Power & Light Company manuscript collection, Hunter Library, Western Carolina University.
  • “Many Natural Resources in Cherokee County.” Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) June 15, 1934
  • “Marble School Honor Roll.” Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.), November 18, 1927.
  • White, Alice, D., ed., and White, Nell A., associate ed. The Heritage of Cherokee County, North Carolina. Winston-Salem, N.C.: Cherokee County Historical Museum in cooperation with the History Division of Hunter Pub. Co., 1987.
  • Williams, Michael Ann, essay, inventory, and photography; Dockery, Carl, ed. Marble & Log: The History & Architecture of Cherokee County, North Carolina. Murphy, N.C.: Cherokee County Historical Museum Council, Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1984.