Perhaps you’ve driven through the tiny, but hopelessly quaint town of Saluda and wondered, “I wonder how such a town came to be. If only there were someone to tell me all about it.”
Now there is somebody available to give you chapter and verse on Saluda’s fascinating history. The Historic Saluda Oral History Committee has completed Home, Hearth & History: Stories of Old Saluda, its inaugural oral history DVD. The video will be shown July 2, 2011 at 5pm at the Saluda Mountain Jamboree. The Saluda 130th Birthday Celebration square dance will follow at 7pm.
The video, a collaboration between Eljapa Media Group and the Oral History Committee, features more than 14 hours of oral history video interviews, hundreds of old photographs from private collections and more than a dozen original taped interviews conducted by Charlene Pace and Anne Osborne for their 1981 book, Saluda, N.C. 100 Years 1881-1981.
Cindy Stephenson Tuttle is the founder and co-chair of the Historic Saluda Committee and Chair of the Oral History Project. “Saluda folks,” she says, “value the history of their town, whether they’re newcomers or natives with deep roots in this small mountain community. The film is about relationships forged and experiences shared. It’s about a ‘sense of place’ and an air of mystery and enchantment that still lingers from days gone by.”
Admission to the film premiere is free; however, donations will be accepted to help with future oral history interviews. A $5 donation will be requested to participate in the square dance. DVDs will be available to purchase.
For more information, call 828-749-2581.
