Saluda, NC

Saluda sits across Polk and Henderson counties, with U.S. 176 running along Main Street and the Green River country nearby. The name comes from the Cherokee word Tsaludiyi, often translated as “green corn place.” Saluda’s defining piece is the old Saluda Grade, the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade in the United States until Norfolk Southern stopped using it in 2001. In 2023, Norfolk Southern agreed to sell 31 miles of the corridor to the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy, which plans a rail trail. Add the Green River Games and the town’s arts and holiday festivals, and you have a mountain railroad town with a second life planned for its old line.