Named for Daniel Murphree (1781-1851), who came to Blount County in 1817. Per George Powell’s 1855 “History of Blount County,” it was “the largest and most important of the valleys of Blount County,” with iron ore, limestone, fire stone, and a coal bed all within a half mile of each other. It was also a real religious center - Mount Moriah, the county’s first Baptist church, was organized there in 1819.
In the spring of 1821, Rev. Lockhart established a Cumberland Presbyterian church in the valley, and another the same year at what became the Summit Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Appears in: Blount Springs.