Throw Back Thursday - Franklin, N.C.

FRANKLIN -- On this Throw Back Thursday, Franklin! 

Franklin is a town in Franklin Township, Macon County, North Carolina, United States, within the Nantahala National Forest.  It is the county seat of Macon County. 

The Franklin, North Carolina area is rich in gems and minerals and is known locally as the "Gem Capital of The World. 

 The city was named for Jesse Franklin, one of two state commissioners who surveyed and organized the town in 1820 as the county seat for what would become Macon County in 1828. Jesse Franklin served North Carolina as a senator and as its 20th governor. The city of Franklin was not formally incorporated until 1855.

Franklin was formally incorporated in 1855. By the time of its incorporation, the town could boast both a boys' and a girls' academy. By 1860, it had a weekly newspaper, "The Franklin Observer," published by L.F. Siler.

The land that is now Macon County was originally part of the vast territory of the Cherokee Indians, who shared a sophisticated culture and an organized tribal government. The Spanish were the first of the European explorers to come, under Hernando DeSoto in 1540, and later, under Juan Pardo and probably others seeking gold. No evidence survives of the Spaniards in Macon County, although it is said that Spanish artifacts were one recovered from sites along the Little Tennessee River.

The Tallulah Falls Railroad came into Franklin in 1907 until 1962. Another interested fact is that Walt Disney shot a movie in Macon County called The Great Locomotive Chase in 1956.