Andy Barker, Mayor of Love Valley, Rides into Sunset

Andy Barker imageWe just received word that Andy Barker, the founder and long-time mayor of Love Valley, died on Thursday. Love Valley is the Iredell County town designed to look like the Old West, a place that draws thousands of horse lovers each year. A quick search in our stacks didn’t yield any photos of Love Valley (although I’m sure we have some). But we did discover a program from a 1970 outdoor concert held in the town. The headline act was the Allman Brothers and the show is said to have drawn quite a crowd.(A quick update: I was working so quickly that I forgot that Lew Powell recently wrote a post about the Love Valley concert.
Cover of Love Valley 1970 Concert program
Love Valley concert line-up

S&P upgrades link dump to junk status

— New York Times wowed by bottom-up perspective at Tryon Palace.

— Up for auction: corner cabinet built by Daniel Boone’s brother.

Neo-Confederate non grata.

— Aboard a Norfolk Southern freight, the wave never gets old.

— He was present at creation of “boom chicka-boom.”