Forever Mayberry

Mount Airy, NC – When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And when in the city that inspired a fictitious little town called Mayberry, you visit all things Andy Griffith.

Here we were on the first stop of our circuitous 2023 road trip to Florida – by way of North and South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia, and … The Villages. (More on all that in another blog. Trust me.)

On this late Saturday afternoon in January, we had just enough daylight to see the bronze statue outside the Andy Griffith Museum here in Mount Airy, population 10,000, according to the 2020 census. This sleepy North Carolina town just over the Virginia line is about 35 miles northwest of Winston-Salem.

Mount Airy is famous because it was Griffith’s hometown. The museum, which has the world’s largest collection of Griffith memorabilia, sits next to the Andy Griffith Playhouse, about a half-mile from his boyhood home at 711 E. Haymore St.

If you were a child of a certain age in the early 1960s, you remember “The Andy Griffith Show” – from the catchy opening theme to the predictable yet meaningful ending of each episode.

Andy Taylor was the widower sheriff of the small North Carolina town of Mayberry, recreated in a Hollywood set. Andy and his son Opie (played by a young “Ronnie” Howard) lived with Aunt Bee (the incomparable Frances Bavier), who takes care of the family.

Andy’s deputy is his bumbling but lovable and hilarious cousin Barney Fife (played to perfection by Don Knotts). Friends of Andy included the town’s resident barber, Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear), Goober Pyle (George Lindsey) and, of course, his cousin Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors).

The first episode aired on CBS Oct. 3, 1960; the final one aired April 1, 1968.

I never knew the show originated from an early 1960 “The Danny Thomas Show” episode where Andy pulls Danny over for running a stop sign and hauls him into the sheriff’s office. Danny stands no chance of talking his way out of the ticket since Andy is not only sheriff, but also justice of the peace and newspaper editor.

Aside: I’ve always thought Danny Thomas resembled my father, minus the mustache. Plus, Thomas was Lebanese. Not Syrian, like my dad, but close enough. Similar temperament, too.

“We’ve got to see the Andy and Opie statue,” Rebecca says. “Get out, and take a picture.” OK, OK.

Walking between the raindrops down the path toward the life-size monument, I couldn’t help but … whistle. Yep, that familiar theme song.

You know it. The song actually had a name – “The Fishin’ Hole” – and was written by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer. Here’s a YouTube clip: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andy_Griffith_Show

The statue depicts father and son walking on a dirt road with their fishing poles, one smiling at the other. A barefoot Opie’s pants are rolled up like clam diggers. It’s a simple yet a powerful reflection of a father and son’s undeniable connection.

In an NBC “Today” show interview, Griffith once recalled this sentiment about the show: “Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the ‘60s, it had a feeling of the ‘30s. It was, when we were doing it, of a time gone by.”

Andy Griffith died July 3, 2012, at 86. Ron Howard is the only original cast member still alive.

Actress Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou, Barney Fife’s girlfriend, died in 2021. She was 95 and lived in Mount Airy.

Beneath that bronze statue, there’s a plaque that sort of sums up the Mayberry/Mount Airy mentality: “a simpler time … a sweeter place … a lesson … a laugh … a father and a son.”

I’m so happy we stopped here.

Time to find Floyd’s Barber Shop. It can’t be far.