Blowing Rock and the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show

It's that special time of the year again, The Blowing Rock Horse Show starts next week in beautiful Blowing Rock, NC. The horse show is in its 89th straight year making it the longest continually running annual horse show in the eastern US. 

According to “A Village Tapestry: The History of Blowing Rock,” by Barry M. Buxton, “The peak of the summer season was the Horse Show with its parties and pageantry. The Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show, which began in 1923, attracted equestrians from throughout the Southeast. Lloyd Tate, the Horse Show's founder and director for many years, held the first show on Green Hill. In those early days the Horse Show was largely a social event with area riders." According to Buxton, the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show was moved to Mayview Manor property in 1928, and its current location, complete with stables, riding areas and grandstand, sits on the site of the old Mayview Manor Golf Course.

Mr. Tate passed away this past year and that is him I believe in the red shirt on the horse show poster.

If you don't know where it is, it's in the mountains of N.C., just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Charlotte is probably under 2 hours away, Winston-Salem is about an hour and a half.  Blowing Rock is one of the prettiest places I know.  It is home for many wealthy Floridians who spend their summers in the lovely climate.  It is a small place, quaint, charming, cozy.  Some people might find it rustic, but therein lies its charm.

The downtown area is small but filled with cute shops and restaurants.  If you want to stay there, book early, especially in summer.

The horse show is just a few miles from town and the facilities are old, down in the bottom of a hill, so when it rains (and it always does) it becomes a mud pit.  It attracts a very competitive group of riders.  People come from all over for the two-week hunter-jumper events.

The views around Blowing Rock are spectacular.

There are some fun places to stay, this is Chetola, a resort that is located on a small lake just when you arrive.  I stayed there as a young girl, in one of the houses, before it was turned into condos and a conference center. 

 Moses Cone Park is close-by.  See my post in October 2011 about it.

We stayed last fall at the Mast Farm Inn which is not in Blowing Rock proper but close-by.  Charming place.

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