The Historic Saluda Committee is asking for the public’s help to preserve the city’s past.
Committee chair Lynn Cass on Monday, Dec. 13 told the Saluda Board of Commissioners the committee is currently selling cards that can be purchased in memory or in honor of someone and given as Christmas gifts to help support the project.
A survey the committee recently conducted clearly showed residents want to “collect and preserve oral histories of Saluda’s senior citizens.”
Cass said the committee has identified more than 40 Saluda residents to interview for the histories, and six interviews with Saluda residents have already been conducted. All the interviews will be part of a series of DVDs the committee will make of oral histories.
The oral history project has been broken up into phases. In the first phase, the committee plans to make a DVD from the first eight interviews. Committee members hope money generated from the sale of the first DVD will fund future DVDs.
The long-term goal of the committee is to turn the project into a website that provides archives of the taped interviews and information about Saluda’s residents, places, architecture, the railroad, music and other historical features of the area.
The committee has also created a city hall restoration subcommittee. City council has given $2,500 for the city hall committee and just under $1,000 as seed money for the oral history project.
Eljapa Media Group out of Asheville is working with the historic committee to produce the DVD.
Individuals who donate $100 or more for the project will be recognized in the film credits.
Donations can be sent and made payable to the City of Saluda, c/o Oral History Project, P.O. Box 248, Saluda, N.C. 28773.