About Cherryville 

The Cherryville area was first settled in the early 1760s by German Pennsylvania Deutch traveling south from overcrowded Pennsylvania.  As importantly, English and Scotch Irish folks from the eastern parts of the North Carolina colony arrived as well.  

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A crude, ancient path, believed to have originated with the  Catawba and Cherokee tribes, wound through this area; some sections of it roughly paralleling today’s “Old Post Road” and East Main Street,  from southwest to northeast.  It evolved as a major wagon trail between Spartanburg South Carolina and Charlotte, bringing sporadic trade and settlers here.

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The railway arrived on the outskirts of the hamlet by 1862, but construction was halted during the US Civil War.  This being the temporary western terminus, war supplies and food stuffs arrived and were distributed to troops traveling through the western part of the state.  Within a few years, railway construction was restarted and continued west to Shelby and beyond.  Coincidentally, Cherryville is situated at the highest elevation, nearly 1,000 feet, of any train depot along the rail line between Wilmington and Hendersonville.

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The White Pine Post Office was officially renamed  Cherryville Post Office in November 1865.  Folk lore credits Mrs. Elizabeth Brown Black with having recommended the change due to the abundant number of beautiful cherry trees that had been planted by residents along the rail track.  In 1872 Town of Cherryville was first incorporated by the North Carolina State General Assembly.

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Industry arrived in 1891 with the first cotton mill established as  Cherryville Manufacturing Company.  Over the next 40 years many more cotton mills were built, employing  hundreds of citizens and providing a stable, consistent work and pay.

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In the early 1930s, Carolina Freight Carriers was established here and grew into a successful, major trucking and distribution powerhouse, spanning the eastern United States and Canada.

A very old unique German custom, still celebrated with great fanfare, has popularized Cherryville across the region and state.  “New Year’s Shooting”, is held each New Year’s Eve and Day.  It has remained a viable and popular tradition for over 150 years.