About 22 miles south of Galax, VA. on Hwy. 601 is the small town of Mt. Airy, North Carolina. It's a pleasant little burg - tree-lined streets, friendly people - but not so different from the towns that surround it or, for that matter, a thousand other little towns across the land. Sure, it's got its distinctions; country singer Donna Fargo (Funny Face, Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A. ) was raised here and the town is home to the world's largest open-face granite pit. These points of pride are not, however, what drew me to Mt. Airy; another distinction altogether put Mt. Airy on my map. This is Andy Griffith's hometown and served as the model for the not-so-fictional town of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show and its followup, Mayberry RFD. Andy and his writers didn't even change the name much, when you think about it - Mt. Airy, May-berry - and just a few more miles down highways 52 and 628, you come across the town of Pilot Mountain (remember the oft-mentioned Mt. Pilot on the show?)

So, what can a fan of the show expect to see when visiting the real Mayberry? Well, the first thing one may notice is that Mt. Airy has grown a bit since the old days. There's even a Mayberry Mall on the outskirts of town. Head on in toward the center of town , though, and it starts to feel about right.

On Main St., you'll find Floyd's City Barber Shop, a mainstay for over 60 years. Though I'm guessing the name Floyd's is a fairly recent development, the place looks great, much as it must have looked when it opened so many years ago. It still houses the original barber chairs that Andy himself sat in when received his tonsorial treatments in days gone by.

Next door is a wonderful little luncheonette called Snappy Lunch. It's been serving the good people of Mayber - er, I mean Mt. Airy - for around 70 years. As I sat at the counter, I chatted with a gentleman of some years who has been coming here from his home in Pilot Mountain ever since he was a lad and he says the place looks the same as it ever did, and I'm inclined to believe him. They serve an unusual item here at the Snappy Lunch; when you order a burger, they ask you if you want it with bread in it or regular. It seems that, back in the 1920s and '30s, during tough times, they started adding bread to the ground beef to make it go farther. In this way, they were able to give you a nice, big slab of beef on your burger. This was apparently a common practice in this area in those days but Snappy Lunch claims to be the only place that still makes burgers this way. You can also have a burger done the traditional way if you prefer, but I figured when in Rome...

My waitress also asked me if I wanted the burger dressed up, which, in North Carolina, apparently means topped with chili and coleslaw. It was an odd burger, unlike any I'd ever tasted, but for all that, not bad. Snappy Lunch is a treasure that one hopes will endure. They fuss over you here (three different waitresses told me that if I didn't like the burger, they'd be happy to make me a normal one) and as I was leaving, they loaded me down with promotional material that made my search for Mayberry that much easier.

There's an Andy Griffith Playhouse, a rather tacky looking Aunt Bea's restaurant by the mall that I would avoid on principle and the original courthouse and jail that inspired Andy's television workplace. The home Andy grew up in is still there, too, quite well-kept and cozy-looking thanks to its current owners. The Mt. Airy Chamber of Commerce also was helpful, even giving me a complimentary pack of The Andy Griffith Show trading cards as I left. Every September, there's a gathering here of fans of the show and on occasion, one of the lesser players from the program will make an appearance. I detected, however, a trace of bitterness in speaking with several townspersons regarding Mt. Airy's favorite son. It seems that Andy himself hasn't been back to the town in many years and doesn't show much interest in returning for a visit anytime soon. I pointed out that he must have quite a busy schedule with his many and various career projects and they acknowledged the truth of this. Still, though, they seemed a little hurt, as if Andy had forgotten his roots. Here's hoping Sheriff Taylor makes it back soon. I think he'd make the whole town proud.

Continue on the American Odyssey.
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