Just over the railroad tracks in Old Fort, North Carolina, is the town square defined by a 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) arrowhead hand-chiseled in granite. The landmark was unveiled to a crowd of more than 6,000 people on July 27, 1930, by Marie Nesbitt as a symbol of the peace achieved in an earlier century between pioneers and Native Americans.

The train always stopped here. For many years, travelers through these mountains looked for the familiar sight of a tall, hand-carved arrowhead in front of the depot, signaling a stop in the historic town of Old Fort. As one of the oldest…