The Taradale Viaduct, designed by William Bryson, carries the railway 36 metres above Back Creek, and was built between 1858 and 1862.

There is also a primary school, public hall and CFA fire station plus a riverside park, picnic area, mineral springs and playground.

Taradale provides a convenient approach to the Fryers Ridge Nature Conservation Reserve, an excellent wildflower area.

The town was named after the birthplace of Sir Roderick Murchison, Tarradale House, in Scotland, and many of the streets are named after famous figures of the day in science and geology, including Charles Lyell, Roderick Murchison, Michael Faraday and Humphry Davy.

Notable people from, or who have lived in, Taradale: One of the early residents of the area, an Irish emigrant named Henry Alley, moved to New Zealand in the late 1850s and named his farm in the Hawke's Bay area, "Taradale", which is now a thriving town.