Regal on the route

Taking the Train: Regal

Cherokee County
Altitude: 1,680 feet

Text excerpted from The Western North Carolina Section at a Glance, 1912 (pp. 36-37):

"This is a typical mountain village, prettily located. There is considerable attention being paid the marble industry here and lumbering and mining are also important industries, and in the surrounding open country considerable fruit is grown.

"Within a distance of nine miles from Regal, the Railway touches four small villages which are merely way stations, and crosses and recrosses a perfect net work of little streams that are fairly alive with mountain trout. Both the fishing and the hunting in this region are ideal, but it is very desirable that the hunter or fisherman should be accompanied by a guide thoroughly familiar with the country, as it is wild and unbroken and in many places dangerous to the unaccustomed tramper. The stations mentioned are Tomotla, 117.8 miles from Asheville and 5.3 miles from Murphy; Maltby, 116.4 miles from Asheville and 6.7 miles from Murphy; Marble, 114.1 miles from Asheville and 9 miles from Murphy; and Coalville, 111.5 miles form Asheville and 11.6 miles from Murphy. At Marble have been opened quarries which give promise of profitable development in the near future; and at Coalville, as it name indicates, some coal has been found. A short distance beyond Coalville the Railway again crosses the Valley River just before reaching the town of Andrews, N.C."

Along this stretch of the railway from Regal to the way stations of Tomotla, Maltby, and Marble, lay important mineral deposits, notably marble and talc. The report by Joseph Hyde Pratt and H.M. Berry, The Mining Industry in North Carolina During 1913 - 17, Inclusive (1919), quoted John E. Smith's observations made in 1917 concerning the marble quarries at Regal operated by the Regal Marble Company:

"About 60 men are employed and nearly 1,000 cubic feet of marble is used daily. The product consists of two grades, known as Regal Blue and Confederate Gray; both of which are very high in quality . . . . The product consists chiefly of grave stones and ornamental work, and is sold in nearly every state in the Union, also in Canada and Mexico. Stones crated and labeled for shipment were seen in the shipping room. They go to the following states: Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana, Washington, Oklahoma, Iowa, Texas, Illinois, and to numerous points in nearby states. The company ships about 1 carload of finished product per week."

Regal in the 1890s

To the West: Murphy directions To the East: Andrews

Regal in the 1930s


Return to the Southern Railway Map for the 1910s



Text excerpted from 1912 travel guide, The Western North Carolina Section at a Glance. Issued by the Passenger Traffic Department, Southern Railway, Premier Carrier of the South, Washington, D.C., 1912.

Sources & Readings

  • Cherokee County Historical Museum. A Pictorial History of Cherokee County. Murphy, N.C.: Cherokee County Historical Museum, 1995.
  • Freel, Margaret Walker. Our Heritage, The People of Cherokee County, North Carolina, 1540 – 1955. Asheville, N.C.: Miller Print. Co., 1956 [c1957].
  • Pratt, Joseph Hyde, and Miss H.M. Berry. The Mining Industry in North Carolina During 1913 – 17, Inclusive. The North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey. Economic Paper No. 49. Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton Printing Co., State Printers, 1919.
  • 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.