Tryon, North Carolina is a quaint little town right on the border of North and South Carolina. There are a dozen little towns like this all over the area and today, we are going to visit some of them with Frank and Debbie.
Our first stop is a little town about 1,000 ft above Tryon called Saluda, NC. It is an old town that was established for the purpose of harvesting lumber in the forest. The rails are the steepest on this side of the Mississippi.
With only about 700 people in town, we had to call to make sure the stores were open before we made the drive up here. Luckily for us, Ward’s Grill and Fountain Service was open. They are an old fashion diner that serves a great bowl of grits.
Right next door is the Historic Boarding House.
You can rent the rooms by the hour…. Ummm, I don’t think they realize how that sounds. I wonder how often Judy has to uncomfortably turn people away.
I know you guys are disappointed that I neglected to take photos of my half-eaten rib eye sandwich for your blog reading pleasure. I promise you I will not let that happen again. As we headed out from Saluda, we made our way to a little spot in the woods called Pearson Falls.
Named after Charles Pearson who discovered the falls as he was scouting for the railroad company, this property was purchased for preservation by the Tryon Garden Club in 1931.
As it is privately owned, an entrance fee is charged at the gate to help with the cost of upkeep. They take the job of preservation very seriously and no dogs are allowed in the property. So much so that Frank and Debbie’s dog, Rosie, was not even allowed to stay in the vehicle inside the gates of the property.
The hike to the falls was an easy half mile. This is the kind of hiking our kids can handle. Very little work, lots of reward. Water falls are very prevalent in this part of North Carolina. Even at the end of fall where there has not yet been any snow in the higher elevations and hardly any rain in the recent weeks, the waterfall was still flowing vigorously.
After we left Pearson Falls, Frank and Debbie took us to a great antique store in Tryon called Old Mill.
Marlene was in heaven here. This kind of place doesn’t really exist in Los Angeles.
I mean there are places in LA that sell recycled architectural items like this spiral staircase. None of them have this kind of selection and none of them sell them at these prices.
It’s not that these things are cheap. They are still very expensive like this amazing door from an extraordinarily ornate Victorian home. In LA, this door would probably cost 3 times as much.
This huge fireplace mantel would fit nicely in The Grove Park Inn.
When we decided that we did not have room to bring any spiral staircases or fireplaces back with us, we retired back at Frank and Debbie’s cabin.
We had a great time here hanging out with them but since they are having work done on the driveway tomorrow morning, we decided it might be easier if we left tonight rather than the morning.
We are hoping to meet up with them again when they come down to Florida in their Airstream in December.
As night falls, we set out for Columbia, South Carolina with the kids fast asleep in the van. We are getting closer and closer to Florida where warm weather awaits.
over and out,
dan
0 Comments