15 Jun - Our Trip to Mayberry! Mount Airy NC & Andy Griffith Hometown

 

Today we drove about 100 miles north of Charlotte to Mount Airy NC.  The significance of Mount Airy is that it is the birthplace and childhood home of Andy Griffith, but also it was the inspiration for Mayberry, the fictional town where The Andy Griffith Show was based,  Many of Andy's childhood experiences, some of the people of Mount Airy and many of the places in Mount Airy were used regularly on the show, although none of the episodes were filmed here.  The entire series was filmed in California.  

We had called ahead and made reservations with Mayberry Squad Car Tours for a ride at 1100 hrs and due to the unpredictability of traffic on I-77 we arrived about 30 minutes early.  This gave us time to not only check-in with the tour, but to visit Wally's Service Station where Gomer and Goober worked, and the Mayberry Courthouse where Sheriff Andy Taylor's office and the jail cells were located, recreations of course.  Some pictures:

The "Darlings" house.  They were a hillbilly family that played homemade musical instruments on the show

Wally's Service Station

Premium gasoline used to be called "Hi-Test"

An old wrecker

The Darlin's truck

Wally's Towing wrecker

The Mayberry Courthouse

Sheriff Taylor's desk

Motorola two-way radio used to communicate with Barney in the squad car

The jail cells where Otis Campbell, the town drunk, used to sober up!  Our tour guide explained there was actually a town drunk in Mount Airy and was the basis for the Otis character in the show.

Otis, the town drunk

The jail cell keys hanging between the jail cells within easy reach.  Otis would lock himself in and let himself out!

Soon it was our tour time and up rolls our squad car.  This company has six early to mid-60's Fords painted and outfitted like the one used on the show, complete with two-way radio, low band whip antenna, decals and siren!  They can take up to four per vehicle plus the driver but we only had Doreen and Liberty in her kennel in the back seat, and I rode in the front.  

Two of the squad cars in front of Wally's Garage, ready for tours.

The squad cars are in very good condition

Doreen and Liberty ready for their tour

Motorola Motrac low-band VHF-FM radio.  I worked on many of these!

Ford Motor Company donated one squad car to the show every year.  The VIN tag had been removed and it was painted for the show.  The next year Ford donated another car and took the old one back.  According to the tour guide they were sent back through the factory, put back to normal, reassigned a VIN and sent out to a dealer to be sold as a used car.  Can you imagine what the originals would bring now if they were still around?

Our tour guide loaded us up and after a little introduction, we headed out in style, siren and all!!

These squad cars turn a lot of heads here in town.  So fun!  As we headed out our tour guide pointed out a couple of the churches here in Mount Airy.  They are constructed of beautiful granite stone which was quarried just outside Mount Airy, and that was out first stop.

The massive granite quarry that employed many Mount Airy men over the years

One of the granite churches in town

The old bank building also of granite

Another of the city's buildings made of local granite

Our tour continued around town.  We were gone for about 45 minutes, so we saw a lot.  It was nice because then we knew where to go back to after the tour was over.  Another interesting fact is Betty Lynn, Barney's girlfriend Thelma Lou, actually moved to Mount Airy and still lives here today.  She appears at celebrations and greets her fans with autographs and conversation.

Andy Griffith's childhood home, now a bed & breakfast

We cruised Main Street and our tour guide explained most of the buildings and which ones were here when Andy lived here. We finished our tour and then we drove the truck to the post office and walked up and down Main Street  

Of course they have a "Floyd's Barbershop", and other icons from the show.

The Loaded Goat - from an episode where a goat ate some dynamite and threatened Mayberry

Here Barney has his own cafe'.

Doreen and a Barney Fife look-alike, the lovable deputy that had only been issued one bullet that he kept in his shirt pocket!  

We made the mistake of visiting Mount Airy on Tuesday as many of the eating places and other shops along Main Street were closed.  We did find Opie's Candy Shop open and we went inside in the air conditioning to cool down and enjoy an ice cream.  

Many flavors of hard-packed ice cream.  Delicious!

Many pictures primarily of Opie.

We finished up on Main Street and headed up to the Andy Griffith Museum and Playhouse,  This facility was Andy's elementary schoolhouse and the playhouse was the auditorium where Andy sang.  As I've mentioned before, the South is very dog-friendly and Liberty was welcomed everywhere we went in Mount Airy, including the museum.

Out in front of the museum is a great bronze statue of Andy and Opie with their iconic fishing poles as we saw in the opening scene's of every show.

We headed into the museum (the playhouse was closed until later in the afternoon).  It was smaller than we expected but had many displays pertaining to Andy Griffith's career.  In addition to the Andy Griffith Show, he starred in Matlock, recorded many songs, did Broadway play's, produced Mayberry R.F.D which was a spin-off from the Andy Griffith Show.  He also starred is some other movies and shows.  His biography is long. Many of the artifacts in his museum were donated by his family

The original keys from the jail

His actual desk and items from his desk

His shirt and badge with certificates of authnticity

A movie he starred in

Andy at the bronze statue 

Costumes from the show.  The one on the right is Goober's

 I could inundate you with many more pictures, but instead I will leave you with this.  This was Andy Griffith's "Mayberry" that he shared with us in the show.  I think we all kind of have our own "Mayberry's".  Mine is DeWitt Iowa, where I grew up.  As kids we would ride our bikes all over town. Our bikes always had a baseball glove hanging from the handle bars. We would head down to the creek and fish and at night we would catch lightning bugs.  Our Main Street looked not unlike the Main Street here in Airy NC.  We had our barbershops, our jewelry stores, our bakery and our movie theater.  So many memories and watching the Andy Griffith Show was like looking back in time for us.  Simpler times and arguably better times.  Memories.  Where was your Mayberry?