Visiting Mayberry

Growing up, the Andy Griffith Show with Andy, Opie and Barney Fife was a favorite of mine and especially my mother. Mayberry was a quiet little town, and the sherriff was a neighborhood fixture that everybody looked up to. Andy Griffith used his hometown of Mt. Airy, North Carolina as a model for Mayberry, remembering it as a small town tucked in the mountains of North Carolina where a young boy was free to roam around. Driving north from Florida to PA, on I-77 I've often wished I had the time to stop in and take a look around but I was always destination bound. This Fall, Larry and I finally took that trip.

I have to agree with Andy. Visiting Mt. Airy was like going back to my childhood, where I could walk the 1/2 mile into town, and do whatever shopping I wanted to do. In this age of malls, shopping strips, and big box stores, this is still a normal small town. However, it has managed to avoid the decay of so many small towns these days. Instead, it has found a way to keep it's identity in tact, not only as a tourist spot, but as a viable community.

At first glance main street looks like most towns with awnings over store fronts, and cars parked along the street. As we explored the town I noticed that Mt. Airy was not a place of endless antique stores or trendy boutiques, the road so many old towns have taken to survival. It is a busy place, with a variety of shops; everything from clothing and gift shops to a drugstore and soda fountain. While you could buy T-shirts with pictures of Andy or Barney, and other souvenirs, the endless supply of tacky tourist junk was not highly evident. There was a nice mix of celebrating the old, while living in the present.

The Snappy Lunch is a good example. This place is a real sandwich shop that was here when Andy grew up, and is still operating. Andy Griffith included it in his show, so it is both a working restaurant and a tourist stop. And it is located right next to Floyd's Barber shop, another combination tourist-business.

For the Andy Griffith fan, there is a museum that houses memorabilia from his career, that began in the local high school.  It is adjacent to the Andy Griffith Playhouse, a working theater. However, it isn't the only museum in town. There is a museum on the main road through town, run by the local Historical Society, that celebrates the local history of North Carolina. It is another reminder that Mt. Airy may recognize the value Andy brings to the area, but it does not solely identify itself with him.

For the aficionado, the true fan, you can spend the night in the house he grew up in. Currently, the Hampton Inn handles those reservations.

My favorite place of all, in this quiet town turned out to be a book store called Pages. It was the quintessential image of a bookstore, complete with a coffee shop.

The two store front windows were put to good use. One displayed new books, but the other had a table and 2 chairs set up in it where a young man was working on his laptop as he enjoyed his 'cup of joe'. Inside, patrons were sitting at tables and the counter enjoying coffee and fresh made pastries.

But the best part was the comforts that were added to this store. Four tables had working jigsaw puzzles on them. Two of the puzzles were finished, but there were two older gentleman working at the others. A sofa, coffee table and a couple of chairs offered a reading area. In the children's corner a toy train had been set up and a corner for kids to look at books they might want to buy. A few educational toys were also for sale.

The warmth in Pages just invited the community to come in, sit down, browse or visit. And there were several people doing just that. To me, it was the ideal of any book lover who ever dreamt of owning a book store. It would be hard to accomplish in most communities these days, because we are so accustomed to malls and strip shops, but in this community that still has a main street, where people park, and walk to do their shopping, it was thriving. For this Book Lover, it was most impressive.

Andy Griffith was not just an actor, but a recording artist. I saw several colorfully painted guitars displayed around town. I suspect they were part of a community art project where people were encouraged to design and paint their own guitars.  All together, it was just one more piece of evidence proving this town has stayed current, and active and yet has changed little over the years.

I was really glad we had taken the time to spend a few hours here. If I'd had a fishing pole, you might have found me whistling a tune as I walked through the woods in search of a local fishing hole.