Saluda Train Tales

Free event at Saluda Historic Depot and Museum on April 19 at 7pm. Light refreshments will be available.

“The sounds of growing up along the Saluda Grade” presented by Pearlie Mae Suber Harris.

Pearlie Mae Suber Harris will be the featured guest speaker of the Saluda Historic Depot’s April Train Tales. Harris moved with her family to Saluda in 1940 and grew up near the railroad tracks. She describes life in the town of Saluda well before the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Education was a powerful theme throughout Pearlie’s life. She graduated high school in 1953 and left Saluda to find work in Greenville. At that time, she was given the opportunity by Mrs. Simpson (of the Belks-Simpson department store chain) to attend Barber-Scotia College. Pearlie would go on to become a beloved teacher in the community for the next 39 years. She earned her Masters degree from Furman University, where she also later receive an honorary doctorate. In 2020, Pearlie was also honored as the subject of a large-scale mural in downtown Greenville, celebrating diversity and education.

Join us at the Saluda Historic Depot on April 19 at 7:00 PM to hear Pearlie Mae Suber Harris share her story about “The sounds of Growing Up Along the Saluda Grade.