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Saluda, NC Facts & Information

Saluda is a municipality located in southwestern Polk County and with a small portion located within Henderson County. Saluda is chartered as a municipal city. It is situated in the western mountainous region of North Carolina. It has been called “The Gateway to the Blue Ridge.” Saluda is situated at the top of a 1,000-foot rise from the Piedmont region below. The annual climate is generally considered moderate.

The first recorded inhabitants of the mountains of North Carolina were the Cherokee people. The Carolina Native American Census of 1715 gave “educated guesses” of 11,200 Cherokee Indians living in around 60 villages. The city name “Saluda” reportedly derives from the Cherokee language and the word “Tsaludiyi.” In the Cherokee language, “Tsaludiyi” means “green corn place.”

The first settlers of European descent arrived in the future Saluda in 1878. The Spartanburg & Asheville Railroad arrived in Saluda on July 4, 1878, as well. The Saluda Grade, the rail line coming into Saluda, is the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade within the United States.

The Saluda Grade or the Saluda Mountain section of the rail line was infamous for its dangerous and repeatedly deadly average grade of 4.24% for 2.6 miles, and a maximum is 4.9% for about 300 feet. At that time, the safe and generally accepted grade was 2%. Nonetheless, the Spartanburg & Asheville Railroad knowing this part of the line would be exceptionally dangerous continued construction on into the town of Saluda. Not long after reaching the Saluda in 1878, the deaths occurred on the infamous Saluda Grade section. Another fourteen men died in 1880. In 1886, nine men died. Three men died in 1890, and in 1893 three more men died on the Saluda Grade section.

Because of the wrecks, deaths, and unexpected construction costs, the Spartanburg & Asheville Railroad was never profitable and went into receivership. Another railroad company, the Asheville & Spartanburg Railroad, was established. It had the same fate with wrecks, deaths, out o control construction costs. It, too, filed for bankruptcy. The Southern Railway took over the rail line around the turn of the 20^th century.

In 1903, the Southern Railway had three consecutive train wrecks on the Saluda Grade section that claimed a total of twenty-seven lives. The Southern Railway briefly considered abandoning this section of track. The railroad did implement new procedures in an attempt to improve safety. One safety innovation did result from these tragedies, “runaway safety spur tracks.” The Southern Railway constructed two runaway safety spur tracks to help address the safety problem. Norfolk Southern Railroad, the current owner of the rail line, stopped rail traffic between East Flat Rock, North Carolina, and Landrum, South Carolina, in December 2001, hence discontinuing use of the Saluda Grade. In April of 2003, Norfolk Southern placed mounds of dirt over the rail lines at mileposts 26 and 45.

The early settlers to the future Saluda area called it “Pace’s Ridge” or “Pace’s Gap” after Ransom Pace (1835-1920), an early settler. His descendants still live throughout the area. Many of the settlers were of Scots-Irish descent originally from Pennsylvania from around the early 1790s

As Saluda developed upon the railroad approaching in 1878, only two homes were constructed within the present-day city limits. The first hotel constructed in Saluda was operated by Colonel Andrew Tanner; He also oversaw the construction of the Spartanburg & Asheville Railroad rail line. Colonel Tanner was elected the first mayor in 1881. By 1887, eight passenger trains were passing through Saluda each day, accounting for around 3,000 annual visitors.

The estimated population for the City of Saluda per the United States Census Bureau for 2019 was 697.

The population per the 2010 United States Census Bureau for the City of Saluda was calculated to be 713.

The 1900 United States Census Bureau was the first Census for the City of Saluda, and the population was determined to be 211.

Saluda was chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1881.

Joel Poinsett built the first road over Saluda Gap in the late 1700s.

In North Carolina, Saluda is the 497th largest municipality in the state.

The Methodist Church in Saluda still stands on the original spot it was constructed on around 1882.

The total land area of Saluda is 1.55 square miles per the United States Census Bureau as of 2012.

The population per square mile for Saluda is 448.23 per the United States Census.

Saluda’s ZIP Code is 28773.

Saluda’s Area Code is 828.

Per the United States Census Bureau, there are 493 households in Saluda as of 2010.

Saluda’s Locations-Coordinates per Google Earth – Latitude: 35°14′10.51″ N, Longitude: 82°20′57.42″ W

Saluda’s elevation above sea level per the Google Earth Location-Coordinates noted above is 2,098 feet.

History – Polk County

In 1855, portions of Henderson County and Rutherford County were apportioned to create Polk County.

A great deal of public debate and some animosity developed from the formation of Polk County. Its creation was not a smooth affair from beginning to end. Originally, in 1847, an act creating Polk County was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly; however, in 1848, the 1847 act was repealed by the North Carolina General Assembly. The prior 1847 county borders of Henderson and Rutherford were restored after the repeal of the 1847 act.

In 1855, once again, the North Carolina General Assembly passed an act with essentially the same language as the 1847 act, creating Polk County from Henderson County and Rutherford County. This 1855 act finally created the 239 square mile county of Polk. Reportedly, up until 1903, there were boundary disputes between Henderson and Polk counties. By total land area, Polk County is the fifth-smallest county in North Carolina.

It is wrongly believed since the eleventh president of the United States, James K. Polk, is a North Carolina native that Polk County is named in honor of him. Actually, Polk County is named in honor of North Carolina native Colonel William Polk, a Revolutionary War hero. Colonel Polk joined the struggle against the British at the age of seventeen when he enlisted with a South Carolina regiment as a second lieutenant. He survived Valley Forge and fought the British and Tories in many notable revolutionary war battles. At the Battle of Canebrake, he was wounded. He fought with distinction at Brandywine and Germantown; Being severely wounded at Germantown. Upon recovering from his wounds, he fought in the August 1780 Camden campaign. He then fought at the decisive Battle of Guilford Court House. He served under Thomas Sumter as a lieutenant colonel at the exceptionally brutal and bloody Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina, the last major engagement of the war in the Carolinas. Colonel Polk was only twenty-two years old at the end of the American Revolution.