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A few nights ago, when Allen and I were with friends eating dinner at the Purple Onion, I was talking to someone about one of Saluda Community Land Trust projects, which entails creating a public park celebrating the Black history of our town. Actually, that is not quite true; that conversation came after I looked at the paintings by local artists near our table. One of those paintings was of Main Street Saluda, with cars parked in front of Ward’s Store. For me, it was missing something. That’s part of my story.

In the past, a blue tractor was parked in front of Ward’s Grill every morning. The owner of the tractor, Charlie Fears, was a Saluda native who lived on the west side of town. He used his tractor for grading, plowing, and road work for many local residents. His home was at the end of a driveway closest to a 4.5-acre parcel of vacant, wooded land. One night, Charlie called me out of the blue with a direct order.

“Get those drugging teenagers off that property NOW. They are digging holes, starting fires, shooting guns, and you need to stop them,” he said. 

My reply was that I had no idea who owned that land and could do nothing about it. That excuse did not work with Charlie. He just said, “I’m telling you to just keep those ‘good for nothins’ off that land.” Then he hung up.

The next day, I went down to the Polk County Registry and looked through the deeds to find out who owned the four acres. The only reference that I found had the land owned by the Catholic Church, but there was no recorded deed. I called all around to Catholic churches, and none of them had any clue as to what I was talking about. Then I went back to the registry, looking through those big old books of deeds. I found nothing. Then, I started researching the deeds of land of adjoining properties and found the answer! 

The ‘Catholic’ acreage was never owned by the Catholic Church. It was purchased in 1889 by the American Missionary Association, an organization in New York City founded after the Civil War for the purpose of buying land for schools and churches for freed slaves. The AMA purchased two parcels of land in Saluda, and one of those parcels of land is the one I was looking for. It was given to St. Matthews AME Church and used as both a church and a school for the 40 or more black children living in Saluda at the time. The church moved to a new site on Irving St. in 1921, but the school stayed on the AMA property until the 1940s. The state provided a teacher for elementary and middle school-aged children at the St. Matthews School and provided a train fare for high school-aged black children who went to the black high school in Hendersonville or Tryon.

So, why did looking at a painting on the wall at the Purple Onion bring all these memories out? It’s simple to me …… maybe. It brought to my mind just how one little, seemingly insignificant moment, or telephone call, can change a person’s calling or even change history. I began asking questions, and people joined the quest for answers. Why did the AMA choose this site? How many ex-slaves lived here? Where did they work? Were there many children? And where did those black residents go? Where do they live now? Do they even know their story?

Charlie Fears’ telephone call was the beginning of a search for knowledge and the future creation of a public walking park that will illuminate the history of those black residents who worked on the railroad, cleaned houses, and built the beautiful rock walls of the homes of Saluda. 

That little thing that Charlie did, that telephone call, will make Saluda a better place for the future.