Tiny Carolina Town Lassos In Would-Be Cowpokes

LOVE VALLEY, N.C. —  It resembles a Hollywood movie set: creaky wooden sidewalks, dusty main street, weathered wooden buildings from which hang wooden signs advertising Silver Spur Saloon and Love Valley General Store.

The downtown is like no other in North Carolina, with horse stables bordering the dirt main drag where abundant reminders are left about the major mode of transportation.

But don’t be fooled by its tag as the state’s smallest municipality.

Overcoming loneliness is no challenge for the 30 residents of Love Valley, which can quickly transform itself from a quiet ghost town in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains into a bustling tourist haven.

A weekend high school rodeo recently drew thousands of visitors who filled the surrounding campgrounds, cabins and trailers. Then there were the horses: About 5,000 passed through Love Valley that weekend.

Andy Barker bought 380 acres on Fox Mountain in 1954 with a dream of building a dude ranch and Wild West town.

He created a cowboy’s paradise.

Horse lovers come to this tiny town an hour’s drive north of Charlotte to trot over the hundreds of miles of dusty trails. The town’s biggest claim to fame may be a 1970 rock concert that drew tens of thousands of Allman Brothers fans, but its lasting popularity is with the cowboys.

“I’ve been coming here for 36 years. What I really enjoy is the horses have the advantage over the cars,” said Bruce Kirby, who lives in Hickory, about 30 miles up the road, and spends most of his leisure time riding around town. “I’ve been told there’s 1,500 miles of trails. I don’t know, but I know I ain’t rode them all.”

The 2000 census ranks Love Valley as North Carolina’s smallest municipality, with 30 residents. Its population has dropped 55.2% since 1990, but the quaint little town in a rural stretch of Iredell County manages to gain a few newcomers.

“My wife and I decided this is where we want to retire,” said Rick Murrow, 48, who moved to Love Valley a year ago. “There are horses up here seven days a week, every week. There’s simply no horse place like this in the world. You come here and you go back in time.”

Barker, the town’s 16-term mayor, estimated the year-round population at closer to 100 but doesn’t quibble with the official head count.

“We like to keep it that way,” he said, decked out in a white cowboy hat as he sat on a stool behind the counter of his hardware store, which doubles as the town hall. “The reason we stay so small is because I won’t sell any of my land.”

Barker, 77, attributes the drop in population to the age of the town’s citizens. “We have a lot of retirees who settle here, and I suppose some of them die every once in a while.”

The Confederate flag flies from a flagpole at the entrance to town, and overalls are the preferred work attire. The town’s one-room jail, which Barker claims has held 558 rowdy revelers and other lawbreakers over the last 47 years, is closed. In typical Wild West fashion, the law shut it down a couple of years ago after a drunken cowboy tried to break out by organizing his buddies to lash a chain around the bars in the window.

The town rules are posted on a large sign outside the town hall.

* “No shooting allowed in town at any time.” Barker said gun-toting cowboys must have their weapons unloaded to prevent anyone from succumbing to the urge to fire off a few blank rounds, which can spook the horses.

* “Obscene or vulgar behavior or language will not be tolerated.”

On an unusually hot day in early April, most of Love Valley’s dedicated shop owners worked hard to get ready for the weekend rush of rodeo riders and their fans. Some, like Jack Jolly, who owns one of three taverns in town, spruced up their places.

Jolly and two workers built a storage room off the back of Jack’s Place to have more room for the beverage of choice after a long day on the dusty trails. Waiting to be moved from the middle of the floor were at least 20 cases of Coors Light beer.

A few doors down, Brenda Hartness spruced up the inside of the general store, which also has a cafe that remains open until the wee hours on most weekends. She lives above the store with her husband, Gerald.

The cafe keeps serving until well after last call at the other taverns.

“My husband says we need to stay open until every cowboy is fed and put to bed,” she said.