Mount Airy North Carolina, America’s Mayberry
I was recently traveling along North Carolina Highway 52 when I was taken back to my childhood summers spent with my grandparents in southwest Georgia.
While most of my summer days were spent with my gramma, traveling along this road specifically brought my grampa to mind.
He wasn’t a man of too many words, my grampa, but every afternoon he would summon me into the den in the back of their tiny house, hand me one of the two bags of freshly boiled peanuts he would be holding, and motion for me to sit on the couch as he would situate himself in his La-Z-Boy recliner.
Then, he would switch on the television.
Right on cue, as if he knew the very moment to press the power button, the first note of that familiar whistling tune would start to play.
It was time for “The Andy Griffith Show,” and I can remember it like it was yesterday; my grampa laughing uncontrollably as if he’d never seen, nor heard, any of these rerunning dialogues.
A tearful smile crossed my face when I passed that green and white road sign.
You see, North Carolina Highway 52, is also known as “The Andy Griffith Parkway.”
I pulled onto the nearest exit knowing exactly what I had to do.
The hospitality of this town called Mount Airy, also known as “Mayberry,” started as soon as my call was answered. Between the Mount Airy Visitors Center and The Surry Arts Council, I had a planned itinerary emailed to me the very next day.
In case you didn’t know or hadn’t figured things out quite yet, Mount Airy North Carolina is where actor, comedian, singer, songwriter, (and the list goes on) Andy Samuel Griffith grew up.
My day in Mayberry started bright and early when I arrived at Wally’s Fillin’ Station on a sunny Thursday morning.
I allowed myself extra time for traffic and such and had managed to make it a bit early. I decided to mosey on over to the “Mayberry Courthouse” next door while I waited to check
Inside was Sheriff Taylor’s desk, along with the two jail cells that Otis Campbell frequented on a regular basis.
Next door was Emmitt’s Fix-It-Shop, out back The Darlings Cabin adjacent to The Mayberry Hotel, along with a mini Mayberry walk of fame.
Before long, it was time for me to check back in at Wally’s. A couple of the rockers under the station’s covered porch were occupied by two gentlemen, who I could tell were locals. Both greeted me with a friendly, “Good Mornin’” in that beautiful Carolina dialect that had me revisiting those little girl memories once again, and reminding me just how much closer South I was.
Inside, I was told that my personal cicerone was out front. I walked out to find, there pulled up in front of the gas pumps, my chariot: a 1961 Ford Galaxie squad car, along with my most excellent Mayberry chauffeur and tour guide, Larry.
“My name is Larry, and I’ve lived here ‘bout my entire life.”
He explained in his quick-talking and charismatic southern drawl.
Larry starts the loud, yet smooth-purring engine and smiles,
“Well now, let’s go for a riii-de.”
Larry started patrolling the Mount Airy/Mayberry area giving folks tours of his beautiful hometown about two years ago after he, ironically, retired from over thirty-four years in law enforcement.
He shares, he’s met people from all over the world that come to tour Mount Airy. An older couple that traveled all the way from New Zealand had just finished up a tour with Larry shortly before I arrived.
“I’ve met people from fifteen different countries! I had one young guy from Africa! Oh, he bounced like Tigger he was so excited to be here! I’d blow the siren and he’d squeal like a little girl! He was a lot of fun!”
Larry then blew the squad car siren as two different groups of people waved and cheered us on as we passed by.
“I always like to tell people, first thing, absolutely nothing was filmed in this town. Everything was filmed in California. Andy was born and raised here, and he took a lot of this little town and put it into his show.”
Larry starts the tour taking me by the granite quarry first.
Mount Airy is home to the world’s largest open face granite quarry which has been mined for over one hundred and twenty years. The quarry has been measured to be four miles across, seven miles in length and six thousand to eight thousand feet deep.
“Story I’ve been told about this,” Larry explains, “is, it’s so big, that early day astronauts used this from outer space as a reference point. This, and The Great Wall of China!”
We passed several churches, buildings, and homes that were built using this local granite, some older than ninety years or more, and each looking as cleaned and polished as if they were built just yesterday.
Another part of the town’s history dates back even further than the granite quarry. The most famous conjoined twins who were born in 1811 in Siam, now known as Thailand, ended up retiring and residing in Mount Airy after traveling the world during their many years of international fame and success.
Chang and Eng Bunker were the most publicized conjoined twins that marveled the world through their exhibitions as curiosities. In fact, the term “Siamese” was derived from Chang and Eng being from Siam. The brothers met and fell in love with the
This July, during the annual reunion of the families of the Bunker brothers, Mount Airy will become sister cities with Samut Songkhram Province in the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly Chang and Eng’s Siam birthplace. Descendants of the Bunker brothers still reside in the Mount Airy area and a large portion of the town’s museum is dedicated to these world-famous twins.
My drive with Larry continued, taking me past several Andy landmarks including, his boyhood church, places where he worked, and even the stage where Andy made his debut in a third-grade play.
“Andy never fully admitted, as far as I know, that Mayberry was staged after Mount Airy. But so many little things he said and did- for instance, before he ever started filming the show, he came here with two of his producers and they stayed in this little town for two solid weeks looking around. Now, it dudn’t take two weeks to see Mount Airy, that’s for sure!”
As you look around Mount Airy, and if you’re familiar with the show, you’ll notice a few familiar places such as Snappy’s Lunch and Floyd’s Barber Shop which were often mentioned on the show. Walker’s Soda Fountain, which was once Lamb’s Drug Store where a young Andy once worked behind the soda fountain, has since been renamed after “Ellie Walker, the lady pharmacist” on the show.
“Now, Miss Thelma Lou is one of my favorite things to talk about!”
“She came here in 2007 to one of our Mayberry Day Festivals and fell in love with our little town, and so she moved here! Even at ninety-two years old, every third Friday of the month, she’s at the museum signing autographs and taking pictures! And she loves to talk to her fans! She wants to know more about you than you wanna know about her! She’s as sweet in real life as she was on the show! Just a real sweet lady!”
After seeing numerous landmarks and hearing all about Andy’s life growing up in Mount airy, my squad car tour ended at Andy’s childhood home which is managed by a hotel chain and offers the whole house for guest stays.
And, if by chance Andy’s childhood home is booked when you visit Mount Airy, consider staying at The Mayberry Motor Inn located just off The Andy Griffith Parkway.
The Inn has been owned by Ms. Alma Venable since 1967.
She, along with her grandson, still manages the Inn which is well-known for its “Aunt Bee Room” which consists of Alma’s collection of authentic Aunt Bee items collected over twenty-five years, with some purchased from the actress’s (Frances Bavier) estate.
Ms. Alma’s also been known to host a gathering at the Inn’s Gazebo during the town’s Mayberry Days held each September.
Alma talks about when she would make “little Barney deputy outfits” for her grandson when he was young. She admits her “Little Barney” really helped business back in those days.
As my squad car tour with Larry was drawing to a close, I asked if he’d ever met Andy in person.
“That close, one day.”
He makes a pinching gesture with his fingers.
“I was in court and couldn’t get loose. But… I met his daughter, she’s a whole lot purdier anyway!”
Larry’s fun-loving sense of humor mixed with his knowledge and admiration for the place he calls home only added to this one-of-a-kind personalized tour of such a pleasantly charming little town.
My next stop was lunch- and where else would I eat but Snappy’s Lunch where my table had been reserved by the Mount Airy Visitors Center.
Known for their famous “Pork Chop Sandwich,” the food, the staff, and the lunchtime atmosphere of the locals was impeccable!
On my way to The Mount Airy/Andy Griffith Museum, I made two quick stops. I ran into “Opie’s Candy Store” for, what else but an RC cola and Moon Pie for dessert. As I went to pay with my bank card, the kind lady behind the counter explained in her sweet, southern, and apologetic voice that the store didn’t have a card reader. “I’d sure trust ya with a check, though!”
Next, I popped in “Mayberry’s Music Center” and, little did I know, it was the home of the famous Southern Gospel Group, “The Easter Brothers.”
Much like the laid-back atmosphere of Wally’s front porch, and Snappy’s Lunch, Mayberry Music Center was no different. In fact, the two remaining brothers, James and Russell, were there chatting with customers. They took the time to tell me about their career on the road, awards their music has received and even took the time to snap a photo with me. The two brothers, who were preparing for a show that evening, still travel and perform together regularly.
The Andy Griffith Museum is filled with everything you ever wanted to know about the Mount Airy entertainer.
You get a glimpse of Andy, apart from his famed television series and movies: from his college days as he planned to become a pastor to this theatrical stage performances, to his career that continued long after “The Andy Griffith Show,” and even to him receiving The Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.
The town of Mount Airy North Carolina is proud of Andy Griffith, and it seems that the feeling with Andy was mutual.
As I was heading out of Mount Airy, I saw an older model pick-up truck with a sticker on the bumper that read, “Make America Mayberry Again.”
Indeed.
The down-home feeling of this amazing little town and its people is a relic that is hard to come by in our much-too-busy, and fast-paced world. A town where everybody knows everybody and nobody is a stranger.
“People started saying that Mayberry was based on Mount Airy… it sure sounds like it, dudn’t it?”
~Andy Griffith, October 16th, 2002
Mount Airy’s Mayberry Days 2019 runs September 23rd-29th
click here for details and tickets
