Against All Odds: The Story of the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show
Image Credit: 16-year-old LP Tate jumps a horse over a car in a promotional photo for the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show, 1941. Courtesy of BRCHS
About the Talk
Dr. Barry Buxton provides a look back over the past one hundred years of what is generally known as “the horse show.” From its early days on Green Hill Circle, to the founding in 1923 of today’s Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show, Buxton carefully illuminates the people, places, events, horses, and heroes of this remarkable community treasure. Through the use of historic video and contemporary footage, Buxton weaves a story rich in detail, especially concerning the cadre of leaders who, against all odds, founded and nourished the longest continually operating horse show in America.
$8 General Admission
Free for Museum Members
About the Speaker
Barry M. Buxton, Ph.D. is a native of Blowing Rock. Youngest of seven children, he was born in 1949 and delivered by Dr. Charles Davant in the old Wallingford Clinic.
His early professional life in the ‘70’s was devoted to prison reform and rehabilitation in Nebraska. The decade of the ‘80’s focused on preservation of Appalachian cultural heritage as CEO and Director of the Press of the Appalachian Consortium.
His passion for museums and museum administration took him to the Pack Place Education, Arts, and Science Center in Asheville, then to Houston, where he worked with President and Mrs. Bush and the Harris County Medical Society, serving as CEO of the Museum of Health and
Medical Science.
In Savannah, Buxton served as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at the Savannah College of Art and Design, helping establish campuses in Atlanta and Lacoste, France. He returned to his Appalachian roots to serve as President of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk until his retirement in 2018.
Dr. Buxton’s numerous awards include the Distinguished Service Award from the Blue Ridge Parkway for historic studies of the Moses Cone Estate, Mabry Mill, Brinegar Cabin, and Davey Farm. His definitive history of Blowing Rock, A Village Tapestry, was awarded Best Community
History by the North Carolina Society of Historians in 1989. In 2016, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory inducted Buxton into Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian award in the state. Dr. Buxton received the Paul H. Broyhill Award for Community Service in 2022 for his
efforts to preserve the heritage of Blowing Rock.
Buxton resides on Blackberry Lane with his wife Lyn and in Bluffton, South Carolina. He is a proud military veteran and his avocational interests include golf, tennis, cycling, history, and landscape architecture.