The rails and ties that bound the foothills and mountains

Saluda Train Tales is honored to feature Terry Ruscin — author, historian and photographer — as presenter at Saluda Train Tales on April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Saluda Historic Depot.

His program includes a timeline of railroad history in the eastern United States with a focus on the Carolinas and an even tighter focus on Polk, Henderson and Buncombe County railroad heritage.

Personalities include railroad executives, innkeepers, townsfolk and celebrated figures that passed through our region or became part-time or full-time residents here.

Depot architecture will be illustrated and discussed through contemporary and vintage photographs, elevations and plans.

Ruscin will pilot his audience through Landrum, Tryon, Saluda, Hendersonville and Asheville, including the breathtaking climb from Melrose to Saluda.

The program includes a brief history of street rails and logging operations.

Ruscin’s latest book, “A History of Transportation in Western North Carolina,” will be available for sale and signing. The book takes in footpaths, gaps, ferries, bridges, river transportation, stagecoaches, railroads, trolleys and streetcars, hacks and drays, early automobile dealerships and airports and aviators. The old Drovers’ Road, Buncombe Turnpike, Dixie Highway, history of Interstate 26, biographies of transportation pioneers, plus drovers and stagecoach inns and copious endnotes and photographs further illuminate the early transportation of our region. Bestselling author Robert Morgan penned the book’s foreword. The book is fully indexed.  The book is available for purchase at the Saluda Historic Depot.

Terry Ruscin is an author, (Hendersonville) Times-News columnist, photographer, historian, and retired advertising executive. He has written the books “A History of Transportation in Western North Carolina,” “Glimpses of Henderson County,” “Hidden History of Henderson County, Hendersonville and Flat Rock: An Intimate Tour,” and “Mission Memoirs—a Benjamin Franklin Award-winner” in 2000. He also wrote the travelogues Dining and Whining, Los Duendes: A Nostalgic Journey through Spain, and Taste for Travel.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation starts at 7 p.m. There is limited seating.

Donations to the Saluda Historic Depot in 2017 will enable us to receive matching grant funds from the Polk County Community Foundation. Saluda Historic Depot is a 501(c)3 non profit and all donations are tax deductible.

Saluda Train Tales is a free monthly event to educate the community of the importance of Saluda’s railroad history and the Saluda Grade, the steepest, standard gauge, mainline railroad in the U.S. Storytelling is the third Friday of the month at 7 p.m. March through December. These events are at the Saluda Historic Depot, 32 W. Main Street in Saluda.

For more information, contact Judy Ward at 828-674-5958 or judyward@charter.net or Cathy Jackson at 828-817-2876 or cathy@saludalifestyles.com for schedule updates.

Article submitted by Cathy Jackson