Visiting Mayberry

​We visited Mt Airy also known as Mayberry.  It was the childhood home of Andy Griffith until he graduated high school. This is the town that he used as his model for the TV shows in which he later acted. There is even an actual town of Mt Pilot nearby for those who remember the references in the show.

​We walked through the downtown streets and stopped at many of the businesses are still in operation from the time he lived here and many that have taken on a look and names of those used in the TV shows.  There is the cafe he ate at lunch, Floyd’s Barbershop, Wally’s Service Station, Wally’s towing, Fred’s Radio and TV Repair, Mayberry Hotel, Foley’s Market, Emmett’s Fixxit Shop, Soda shops, and Opie’s Candy store.  We also visited the Mayberry Jail and Courthouse which looks almost identical to the one in the show right down to the old phone on Sheriff Taylor’s desk and Otis the town drunk’s jail cell that did not lock.

​They have tried to keep the downtown area as close to the way it looked in the late 50’s if they would close off those few blocks of main street and park period cars along the way it would be perfect.