The townsite of Marshall is blocked on one side by the French Broad River and on all other sides by steep mountainous terrain. Madison County residents say Marshall is "a block wide, a mile long, sky high and hell deep."[5]
During the Civil War, Marshall, as the seat of Confederate administration for Madison County, was the scene of conflict with the largely pro-Union rural population. On May 13, 1861, the election day for delegates to the state convention on secession from the Union, a man shot and killed the pro-secession county sheriff after a dispute in which the sheriff had shot the man's son.[8]
Later, Confederate authorities restricted the distribution of salt, which was needed to preserve meat in the winter. In January 1863, a group of men raided the salt warehouse in Marshall, then proceeded to ransack the home of Colonel Lawrence Allen of the 64th North Carolina Regiment (the columned house below the courthouse dome in the Main Street photo).
In retaliation, the 64th North Carolina Regiment summarily executed 13 men and boys in the Shelton Laurel massacre.[9]
From the 1950s to the 1980s, Marshall was the seat of the Ponder machine, which controlled all the patronage jobs in Madison County.
View towards the Courthouse after the Hurricane Helene flooding in 2024.
The town was impacted by Hurricane Helene in 2024.[10][11] The hurricane destroyed several buildings in Marshall, and damaged the town hall.[10][12]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.8 square miles (9.8 km2), of which, 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km2) (6.91%) is water. Marshall is located on the eastern bank of the French Broad River, one of the major river systems of western North Carolina.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 777 people, 346 households, and 195 families residing in the town.
2000 census
Town hall
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 842 people, 390 households, and 225 families residing in the town. The population density was 240.1 people per square mile (92.7 people/km2). There were 443 housing units at an average density of 126.6 per square mile (48.9/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.57% White, 0.48% African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.12% from other races, and 0.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.60% of the population.
There were 390 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples living together, 15.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were non-families. 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.81.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.7% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 21.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $24,188, and the median income for a family was $36,250. Males had a median income of $26,172 versus $22,875 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,245. About 13.7% of families and 23.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.6% of those under age 18 and 18.8% of those age 65 or over.
Independent filmmakers Joel Haver and Dylan Dexter released the film 31 Days in Marshall, North Carolina in 2019. The film was shot entirely in Marshall in 2017, and features multiple townsfolk in both the cast as well as background musical talent.[16]
Wiley Cash's 2012 debut novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, is set in Marshall and the surrounding area.
^Trotter, William R. (1988). Bushwhackers: The Civil War in North Carolina (The Mountains). Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair. pp. 9–12. ISBN0-89587-087-8.
^Trotter, William R. (1988). Bushwhackers: The Civil War in North Carolina (The Mountains). Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair. pp. 221–232. ISBN0-89587-087-8.
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