Many of the original families were Scots-Irish who left Pennsylvania around the time of the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s.

[7] Count Joseph Marie Gabriel St. Xavier de Choiseul, French consul to Charleston, South Carolina, and cousin to Louis Philippe I of France, bought land in 1831 from the Barings of nearby Flat Rock and built his home, Saluda Cottages.

[11] Freight service along the line ended in December 2001 when Norfolk Southern suspended operations along the line between East Flat Rock, North Carolina and Landrum, South Carolina[12] before severing this segment from the rest of its system in April 2003.

[13] Talks to convert this segment to passenger train excursion and a Rails-to-trails conversion made no headway in the 2000s and 2010s.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Saluda has a total area of 1.5 square miles (4.0 km2), all land.

The city council is composed of the mayor and commissioners: Mark Oxtoby, Stan Walker and Paul Marion.

The main street of Saluda is a hub of newly formed restaurants and art galleries.

Tourists and cyclists are common on summer and fall weekends due to the many winding mountain roads located around Saluda.

[20] The Saluda Arts Festival[21] is an event in which fine artists from all over western North Carolina and South Carolina exhibit and sell oil paintings, watercolors, acrylic paintings and drawings, woodworking, photography, pottery, jewelry, sculptures, stained glass, and metal working.

The festival also offers live demonstrations of landscape painting, weaving, pottery, and blacksmithing.

It is a homecoming and celebration which includes food, live music, a parade, crafts, and a street dance.

Businesses and shops are open and serve holiday refreshments while local musicians perform.

A small park with a playground and picnic shelter borders the railroad tracks on Main Street.