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Saluda News & Notations

By Bonnie J. Bardos

Only when our feet learn once again how to walk in a sacred manner, and our hearts hear the real music of creation, can we bring the world back into balance.

~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Early in life, William Faulkner had an awakening, a great epiphany: “I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about, and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it.”

That notion of “little postage stamp of native soil” resonates, although Saluda is not my native soil—actually it’s Cherokee native land when you consider truth. However, I’ve written many years as if it was my own postage stamp of ‘place’ and belonging—as if I could lay claim to the people, the mountains, the streams, the train tracks, the old houses and charming old-timey Main Street.

These days I don’t own a stitch of land in town anymore, just ‘borrow’ a place a while until something else happens, still garden and think thoughts on a front porch.

We are all just are caretakers, really, while on this floating blue planet. The Native Americans know that, but most of the rest of us are still learning. We don’t tend to think far in advance about how things will be in the years and eons ahead.

In saying that, our zoning board meets up this week, and lots of plans are in the works for proposed development of different sorts. Change will come to even our small town, but we can use foresight and thought to manage it well and keep “Saluda” what makes Saluda special. I hope. Having seen what rampant development and growth can do to communities, I can attest that it takes a delicate balance to make it work: a vision of tomorrow’s children, and generations to come.

We humans, we come and go, some destroying, some conserving, but can learn some mighty lessons by examining past and present in order to do a better job that will attest to what matters most. Money? Greed? Each other? Future generations? Something to think about…here on our little postage stamp of native soil.

Keep up with Saluda Community Land Trust (SCLT)’s latest projects: visit saludaclt.org or call 828-749-1560 to learn more. You can support SCLT with donations, volunteering, and through Amazon Smile. Upcoming “Walks in the Woods” are September 6 to Saluda Mountain, Passage of the Palmetto Trail ; and September 20 to Green River Cove Trail. Meet at Saluda Library/Presbyterian Church parking lot, 2:00 p.m. Safe-distancing guidelines practiced. SCLT’s trails can benefit from regular clearing and pick-up; if you’d like to help, contact Trail Boss Chuck Hearon at 828-817-0364 or chearon@skyrunner.net

 

The Community Pop-up Pantry is open for drive-through each Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Saluda Presbyterian Church parking lot. Send donations to Church of the Transfiguration, designated for Pop-Up Pantry, 72 Charles Street, Saluda NC 28773. Donations of fresh produce from gardens would be welcome! For information or to volunteer, contact saludapantry@gmail.com

 

Saluda Historic Depot & Museum is open Thurs.-Sat. 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sun. 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saluda Train Tales are beginning on September 18, 7:00 p.m. with Ray Rapp’s “Back on Track”. If you’d like to be a museum docent, contact a board member or Judy Ward at 828-674-5958.

 

Saluda Library hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

 

Visit Saluda.com to see updates on local businesses, re-openings, plus take-out/on-line ordering information.

 

Saluda Get-Well goes to Candy Oakes and Gary Pace.

 

Happy September Birthday to Wayne Thompson, Courtney Hoots, Merci Weitzen, Dale McEntire, Joni Rauschenbach, Linda Kaye Hayes, Carol Kenfield, Debbie Fisher, Leslie Jespersen, Linda Mintz, Sheila Billeter, Cary Pace, Ross Arrington, Hop Foster, Chuck Hearon, Alexia Timberlake, Jason Justus, Beth Carson, Clark Thompson, Nicholas Edwards, Cindy Tuttle, Don Clapp and Nancy Pew. Happy-belated birthday goes to Jade Burdett. A big thank you to readers who help keep the list updated!

 

Feel free to contact me at bbardos@gmail.com, 828-749-1153, or visit bonniebardosart.com