A native of Central Virginia, Barclay Rives graduated from Harvard College in 1976. He has been a blacksmith, tinsmith and wordsmith. His stories have appeared in Albemarle Magazine, In & Around Horse Country, and Virginia Sportsman. He enjoys speaking to organizations about local history, equestrian subjects, fox hunting, and his books. He is the author of A History of Grace Church (1993, revised 2010), The 100 Year History of the Keswick Hunt Club (1996), William Cabell Rives: A Country to Serve (2014), and See You at Second Horses. He is currently researching the life of physician, explorer, and patriot Dr. Thomas Walker (1715-1794).
See Barclay Rives deliver his lecture "William Cabell Rives: A Country to Serve" at the Virginia Historical Society on September 3, 2015.