Our carpools departed the campground for the 30-minute drive
to Mayberry, USA (actually, Mount Airy, North Carolina). Mount Airy is a city with a population of
10,388 as of the 2010 census. The town
is best known as the home of actor Andy Griffith and is the inspiration for the
fictional town of Mayberry; the setting for the TV shows The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. Mount
Airy is also the home of 1970’s country music artist Donna Fargo.
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| Our Squad Car Awaits |
We started our tour of the city at Wally’s Service
Station. This is the home of the Squad
Car Tours where 4 or 5 guests are loaded into 1960’s era black and white Fords
painted like police cars with a red “bubble gum” flashing light on the
roof. To start the tour, the driver pulls
away from Wally’s with the siren blaring for a trek around the city. With running commentary along the tour route,
the driver talks about the granite quarry that is still in operation, the
city’s favorite son, Andy Griffith, and how many of the names used in the
television programs came from local sites and venues around Mount Airy.
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| The Ladies Are Out on the Town |
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| The Granite Quarry |
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| Flyod's Barber Shop |
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| Andy's Original Homeplace |
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| Andy's Old Homeplace Can be Rented Out for the Night |
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| Hey Baby, Do You Wanna Go For a Ride? |
We went to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History to get an
exposure to local life that isn’t related to Andy Griffith. The museum has artifacts from the city’s
early days. Also included in the museum
are three of the city’s first motorized fire engines along with the story of
how each truck was acquired.
We completed our visit to “Mayberry” with a visit to the
Andy Griffith Museum. We saw photos, posters,
and movie and TV set artifacts related to Andy Griffith’s career in local
performances, Broadway stage performances, movies and television.
Andy Griffith’s early career was as a monologist, delivering
long stories such as What It Was, Was
Football, which is told from the point of view of a naïve country
preacher trying to figure out what is going on in a football game. The recording was released in 1953 and
reached number nine in the charts in 1954.
Griffith starred in a one-hour television program play No Time for Sergeants in
1955. He reprised the role in the
full-length theatrical version of the same name on Broadway. The role earned him “Distinguished Supporting or Featured
Dramatic Actor” nomination at the 1956 Tony Awards. Griffith continued to work on stage and
started working in movie films through 1960.
In September 1960, Andy starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor in
The Andy Griffith Show, which
takes place in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina.
The program had a well known cast such as Don
Knotts in the role of Deputy Barney Fife and child star Ron Howard as Andy’s
son Opie.
The program ran from 1960
until 1968 when Griffith decided to leave the program.
In 1986, Griffith returned to television as the title
character, Ben Matlock, in the legal drama Matlock,
who was known for his Southern drawl and for always winning his cases.
Memorabilia from all of these roles, along with many others in
Andy’s long career are included in the museum.
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| Andy Taylor's Office |
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| Goober and His Uncle Wilt |
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| Goober's Cousin Carol |
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| Hey Rita, Are You Ready to Go? |
In September 1960, Andy starred as Sheriff Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show, which
takes place in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina. The program had a well known cast such as Don
Knotts in the role of Deputy Barney Fife and child star Ron Howard as Andy’s
son Opie. The program ran from 1960
until 1968 when Griffith decided to leave the program. 
