Mayberry, North Carolina

July 20, 2006



If you look on a state map of North Carolina, you will not find a town called Mayberry. Though many people try to locate it, the town where Andy, Barney, Aunt Bea, Opie, Gomer and the gang lived doesn’t exactly exist. What does exist is the small town of Mount Airy, which is the hometown of Andy Griffith and was the inspiration for the idealized American small town that was Mayberry.



We visited Mount Airy and found it much like the Mayberry depicted in the show, with many of the same businesses that were the actual places of the show still going strong. Floyd’s barbershop, Wally’s Garage, the Snapppy Diner, Weaver’s Department Store are all still there and to that mix the town has created some additional attractions such as the Mayberry Courthouse, an Andy Griffith Museum, and a statue of Andy & Opie at the Andy Griffith playhouse. You can stay the night in Andy’s childhood home which is now a Bed & Breakfast or tour the town in a squad car from the show. It is quite an immersion into the Andy mystique.

Despite the obvious attempts to generate tourism, at its heart, Mount Airy is still the sleepy mountain town that the show portrayed. It is a genuine pleasure to visit. Everyone we met was as nice as you could imagine. The highlight for me was getting my haircut at Floyd’s. Russell Hiatt, the actual inspiration for Floyd, has owned and operated Floyd’s for over 50 years and is still at it cutting hair to locals and tourists alike. He was busy when my turn came so I got my hair cut by Keith Hargett. It was an experienced because the barber shop still serves as a social center for the town and locals drop by and chat with Russell & Keith about the day’s events as they cut hair and you get to be hear it all. I now am privy to all sorts of local gossip.




In addition to all the Mayberry-related offerings, the town has even more to offer, a nice selection of shopping and a quaint little Winery, The Old North State Winery, where we sampled the local wine selection. This region of North Carolina, The Yadkin Valley, ranks among the top 5 wine destinations in the country.

Old North State Winery

Yesterday, we returned to Hanging Rock State Park for some more hiking, despite the 90+ degree heat, we hiked up to Hanging Rock which gives the park it’s name. At 2,150 ft., the hike was somewhat easier than our previous excursion. The hanging rock is a granite face of the mountain that hangs out over a ledge, the views from there are spectacular and well worth the effort required to get there. Kathy has hiking on the brain now, so chances are we have more hiking in our near future. This is a great area for hiking, lots of scenery, wildlife and hardly any other people around.

View from Hanging Rock