Warren Goes To Mayberry

By Beverly Reep

Many reflect on the golden days of television when when shows had little violence, no steamy love scenes, and everyone had on clothes.  To some, this may sound boring but to the millions of fans of The Andy Griffith Show, these old reruns are not only classics, they are over and over again entertaining.  My husband (and I have to admit, my son and I fit into the same category) is a true fan.  He know all the characters, their backgrounds, and the episodes.  His head is filled with tons of trivia.  We watch it on MeTV almost every day and sometimes for marathon stints.  It never fails to delight!

Earlier in the year when I was trying to find the perfect birthday gift, Rob and I decided that one of the greatest thrills for Gregg would be to surprise him and take him to Mt. Airy, the hometown of Andy Griffith.  As I began to research Mt. Airy, I stumbled across some interesting facts and fun things that sounded like any lover of the show would enjoy.

First, let me explain that Mt. Airy was the model for Mayberry.  Nearby was a mountain named Pilot Mountain.  If you remember, the nearby larger town in the show was called Mt. Pilot.

As we drove through the mountains of North Carolina, we waited until the sign on the Interstate read Mt. Airy.  Then we told him what we had planned.  I don't think the full effect of the experience ahead sunk in until the following morning when we drove up at Wally's Filling Station where we had arranged for an early morning ride in the squad car through the town.  Rob, my sweet daughter-in-law, and I climbed in the backseat.  In keeping with the tradition of the show, we all piled in on the same side of the car.  Our birthday boy rode up front with the driver.  We rode through the town site seeing points of interest such as the boyhood home of Andy, Walker's Soda Fountain, the Snappy Lunch Diner, the churches where Andy attended as a child and the Moravian church he later joined as a teenager.  We saw the granite quarry and other things about the town.  There is no denying the pleasure on all our faces when the driver of the squad car sped up and turned on the red light and the siren.  When we returned to Wally's we strolled around a replica of the court house and took a look inside the jail.  There it was, the famous water cooler which was once spike by Otis Campbell and the key he used to let himself in and out of his cell.  We saw the truck which belonged to the Darlings, their cabin, and Mayberry Union High School.

At the conclusion of our tour, we ate lunch at Barney's Burgers.  We walked down the street and stopped off at Walker's Soda Fountain for a milk shake.  Of course we just had to buy a Nip It in the Bud t-shirt for our birthday boy and another one for Tommy Larance, another huge fan, that read "You're Not Talking to a Jerk You Know!" with a picture of Barney on it before going to the Andy Griffith Museum.  It was truly a fun celebration for all of us.