Downtown Murphy, North Carolina has an unsolved bank heist, a missing dragon, and a wine shop all wrapped up in one very old building.
The First Bank of Murphy opened on January 16, 1899, and it's among the oldest surviving commercial structures in the town's downtown. Bank president A.F. Dickey and vice president A. McD. Harshaw ran the institution, with Luke Bayless as its first manager and cashier — a man credited with steady financial judgment that kept the bank healthy. Its arched windows and doors survive, though the original brick facade has since been stuccoed over.
The good judgment didn't deter everyone. On September 9, 1904, burglars broke in and blew open the vault, escaping with more than $4,000 — a serious fortune in those days — and reportedly leaving behind only a few pennies. Nobody was ever caught, and the case is still open more than 120 years later. Locals looking for Murphy's original cold case have found it.
There was once a guardian on duty, too. When built, the roofline featured a dragon peering down at the street, a classical touch signalling strength and a warning to would-be thieves: this bank has a dragon. The creature eventually vanished from the roof, but it survived — you can now see it at the Cherokee County Historical Museum, a short walk away.
The bank operated into the 1920s, then cycled through an ice cream parlour, retail shops, a hair salon and a travel agency. Since 2023 it's been home to FairyCross Bottle Shop, a wine and specialty food store. The name comes from fairy crosses — small, naturally cross-shaped crystal formations found in this corner of Western North Carolina. Local folklore treats them as sacred, and occasionally someone drops a few off at the shop, where they're passed to anyone going through a rough patch. The only condition: make a wish.
Before you go inside, look down at the marble steps. Decades of bankers, shoppers, burglars and beauticians have worn visible hollows into the stone — a literal record of everyone who ever crossed the threshold.
For travellers road-tripping through the mountains of far-western North Carolina, this is an easy and genuinely charming stop: free street parking throughout downtown, a working bottle shop open seven days a week, and a small-town history lesson built into your glass of wine. Pair it with the museum visit to see the dragon, and you've got a full afternoon of quirky local lore in one compact town square.
