Tryon sits at the foot of the Blue Ridge escarpment, right on the South Carolina line above Landrum. The railroad arrived by 1877, the town incorporated in 1885, and it grew as a resort and later as horse country; the Tryon Riding and Hunt Club dates to 1925. About 1,560 people live in town. It lies in a thermal belt, a band of hillside where frost is less common than in the valleys.
Tryon runs its own water and sewer. Its water is surface water from Colt Creek, Fork Creek, Big Falls Creek and Lake Lanier, and the town treats its own wastewater. Gas mains in Tryon belong to Enbridge Gas North Carolina, the company that used to be PSNC and then Dominion Energy North Carolina.
Permits are a two-step process. The Town of Tryon issues zoning permits at Town Hall, and Polk County Building Inspections issues the building and trade permits and inspects. Gas Guys is licensed in North Carolina (#L39015) and South Carolina, and serves Tryon from its base in Spartanburg County, SC.
Tryon at a glance
- Natural gas
- Enbridge Gas North Carolina. The state utility map shows Enbridge Gas North Carolina service in Tryon; hillside and rural homes beyond its mains use propane.
- Water
- Town of Tryon
- Sewer
- Town of Tryon
- Permits
- Polk County Building Inspections (Town of Tryon zoning permit first)
- Housing
- Late 1800s and early 1900s homes and inns near downtown, hillside houses in the thermal belt, and horse farms on the edges.
Plumbing and gas in Tryon: what to know
Old houses, old pipe
Many homes near downtown date from Tryon's resort years, and their plumbing has been redone in stages. Galvanized steel supply, cast iron drains and copper often share the same crawlspace. Leaks tend to start where one material meets another, and rusted galvanized is the usual cause of weak flow at one or two fixtures.
Thermal belt is not freeze-proof
The thermal belt keeps the hillsides milder than the valley floor, but pipes still freeze here on the hardest nights, especially in homes down in the hollows or with open crawlspaces. Insulate exposed lines, close foundation vents for winter, and know where the main shutoff is.
Gas on a hillside lot
Houses on Tryon's slopes often have long gas runs from the meter or tank to the house, sometimes partly exposed along a retaining wall or under a deck. Steel pipe outdoors needs to be protected from corrosion, and buried pipe has to be approved for burial. Before digging for a new line, call NC811, which marks utility lines but not the private pipe past your meter.
Gas logs in older fireplaces
Tryon has plenty of masonry fireplaces converted to gas logs. Vented sets need the damper locked open. Vent-free sets have room-size and clearance rules that older, smaller rooms may not meet. After a summer off, a pilot that will not stay lit is usually a dirty thermocouple or a blocked pilot tube.