6 things you can do in the 'real-life' Mayberry

There is the show-version of Mayberry, the Mayberry in Virginia and Mount Airy... the 'real-life' Mayberry! Here's what you can do there!

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If you're a fan of The Andy Griffith Show, there's a solid chance you have wanted to visit Mayberry at one point or another. If you're still interested in seeing Mayberry, there's a couple of different ways you can plan a trip!

The fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina has some strong ties to the hometown of Andy Griffith, Mount Airy, North Carolina. 

Just a short drive away from the star's hometown is the real Mayberry, across the state line in Virginia! It's where you'll find Mayberry Church Road and the Mayberry Trading post, which Griffith's grandparents have ties to! 

The Andy Griffith Show has plenty of roots in the state of North Carolina, for plenty of reasons. About an hour and a half southeast of Mount Airy is Siler City, where Aunt Bee actor Frances Bavier decided to retire!

Though the name of Griffith's hometown is Mount Airy, the city prides itself on being the "real-life Mayberry!" Aside from the annual Mayberry Days Festival, Mount Airy has plenty of year-round Andy Griffith Show attractions too!

Here are six things you can do in Mount Airy, Andy Griffith's hometown and the "real-life Mayberry."

Watch The Andy Griffith Show on MeTV!

Weeknights at 8 & 8:30, Sundays at 6 & 6:30 PM

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1. Go on a squad car tour

When visiting Mount Airy, nothing will make you feel like you're in Mayberry more than a trip through town in a squad car! These replica cars tour the charming town for up to 45 minutes, passing up all the Mayberry sights you'd want to see! More about these below!

Image credit: visitnc.com

2. Stay at the Mayberry Motor Inn

Perhaps the squad car can drop you off at the Mayberry Motor Inn. With a stay here, you can check out Aunt Bee's room! Frances Bavier has a room dedicated to her at this motel! Per visitmayberry.com, certificates of authenticity exist for more than 30 of Bavier's belongings from gloves to glasses.

Image credit: visitmayberry.com

3. Check out Andy's childhood home

Operated by the Hampton Inn of Mount Airy is Andy Griffith's childhood home! Andy's Homeplace is a bed and breakfast that's just a short walk from downtown Mount Airy. The house is filled with antiques and is wrapped in '30s and '40s decor. 

Image credit: visitnc.com

4. Get a cut at Floyd's City Barber Shop

This '50s-style barber shop sits right on Main Street in Mount Airy. According to visitmayberry.com, "the shop is both a fully-functioning barber shop and tourist draw. Stop by and meet Bill, son of original owner Russell Hiatt." Hiatt was the real-life Floyd the Barber, in the "real-life" Mayberry, cutting hair until he was 90 years old! Over seven decades of cutting hair, Hiatt amassed "more than 30,000 photographs" on is Wall of Fame! 

Image credit:visitnc.com

5. Grab a pork chop sandwich at Snappy Lunch

Yes, this is the same Snappy Lunch referenced in the season one episode of The Andy Griffith Show titled "Andy the Matchmaker." Griffith suggests he and Barney head to the Snappy Lunch for a bite to eat, perhaps because he frequented the joint as a child! The spot is known for its pork chop sandwich, a "boneless, tenderized loin chop dipped in sweet-mile batter and fried until golden crisp," says visitmayberry.com! No trip to Mount Airy would be complete without a stop at Snappy Lunch!

Image credit: visitnc.com

6. Walk through the Andy Griffith Museum

The Andy Griffith Show and all of its history can be seen on display at the Andy Griffith Museum! Just a half-mile from Andy's childhood home, you can see hundreds and hundreds of items collected by Andy's childhood friend Emmett Forrest. Various items from Don Knotts and Betty Lynn can be seen at the museum, along with the iconic signs from the courthouse that read "Sheriff" and "Justice of the Peace." 

Image credit: visitmayberry.com

SEE MORE: Go inside Mike Haviland's magnificent Mayberry collection!

Mike Haviland is the man of Mayberry with his impressive collection of The Andy Griffith Show memorabilia. He and his collection were featured on season three of Collector's Call

SEE COLLECTION

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112 Comments

bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/C7TSBCTW59Y
The Lone Ranger episode with Francis Bavier (Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show)as outlaw
Maggie Sawtell.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/JHlRizz4gMs
Away In A Manger sung by Ellie Walker Elinor Donahue on the season one Christmas episode of The Andy Griffith Show.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/Iw5sIC0jDfs
Howard Sprague Mayberry
Comedian
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/AQXVHITd1N4
The Calypso Song from
Beetlejuice.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/umj0gu5nEGs
The Time Warp Song from the
movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/sUURjSpQt7s
FREAKAZOID THEME SONG!!
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/j7TT4jnnWys
The funny song Gee Officer
Krupte from the 1961 classic movie West Side Story.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/5vlG0oib6ss
Fonzie Henry Winkler Meets
The Lone Ranger (John Hart).
Cynthia Brannigan :
Marla Pennington.
It's too bad that Cynthia Brannigan (Marla Pennington)
Appeared in 2 episodes ONLY
Before Disappearing from
Happy Days With No Explanation.
10 Characters On Happy Days
Vanishing Into Thin Air starting
With Moose Barry Greenberg and
Chuck Cunningham 1 Gavan O'Herlihy.The last Happy Days Characters who vanished into
thin air with no explanation
were KC Cunningham played by
Crystal Bernard and Flip Phillips
(Billy Warlock).
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/LYlIB2iI7k0
FONZIE (Henry Winkler)Meets
EUGENE BELVIN (Denis Mandel)
For The First Time. Season 8
Of Happy Days.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/chHWwfzDEXg
The Mystery Girlfriend of MOOSE
(Barry Greenberg) was played by
Carey Williams.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/EuYFiFUQtrg
Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard)tries to get Marilee
(Carol Williams) a date with
Fonzie's new friend Sticks Downey Jr (John Anthony Bailey).
Kathy O'Dare played Lois and she played Mary Lou Mulligan on the Happy Days episode called All The Way (Episode one season
One .)
Pacificsun 18 months ago
I think this story [[ https://www.mtairynews.com/news/114009/mayberry-days-opens ]] should replace the negativity in some of the comments below. To the point about "Six things you can do in the "real Mayberry."

IMO the "real Mayberry" lies in the hearts and fandom of the people described in the "Mayberry Days" article. Exactly about making friends, and even spousal connections! Getting ready for the festival and welcoming new and old visitors.

I'm not an ultra-fan of this particular series, but the article is a good representation of what in can be with people of similar interest MeTV Writers should repost their article on Betty Lynn to remind Readers how much she meant to fans And to them, was just as important as a Mary Tyler Moore or Betty White.
AgingDisgracefully 18 months ago
Me? I'd dig deep for my Inner Jack Webb, then initiate as many, "Citizen's Arrest! Citizen's Arrest!" incidents as time allowed.
But that's just me.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
If Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers on Gilligan's Island) had played Ellie Walker instead of Elinor Donahue I think that the character of Ellie Walker would have stayed on TAGS the ENTIRE 8 seasons. Dawn Wells playing Ellie Walker would have been an excellent love interest for Andy
Taylor. I wish that actors Roy Stuart Cpl Boyle on GOMER Pyle USMC and
Russell Johnson Professor Roy Hinkley Skip Young Wally Plumstead on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Alvy Moore Hank Kimball on
Green Acres Elizabeth Lou Ann Poovie and Frank Nelson from The Jack
Benny Show would all have fit in just fine because all of those TV characters were friendly people.
Peter_Falk_Fan 18 months ago
That pork chop sandwich sure sounds tasty. Maybe I should check it out next time I visit my kin in Winston-Salem. We usually bypass Mount Airy via the Interstates.
Dwight Peter_Falk_Fan 18 months ago
If you’re coming South on I-77 out of Virginia, just take the exit to Mount Airy (a left side exit, so keep your eye out for it.) Unless you take the squad car tour, or visit the boyhood hone, you can easily do Mount Airy in a couple of hours. Then hop back on I-74. You can go over to State Highway 52, which will take you straight into Winston-Salem, or go down State Highway 61 until you get to State Highway 421, take a left onto it, and you go straight into Winston-Salem that way.
Michael Dwight 18 months ago
If you go there, do you go back to your car and find a "I Visited Mayberry" bumoer sticker on it?
Dwight Michael 18 months ago
No, but you’ll find a few places that will sell you one. Lol.
Michael Dwight 18 months ago
When I was a kid, we went to azoo, and found a bumper sticker. Except in the sixties, so it cardboard wired on, no actual sticker
Dwight 18 months ago
I was in Mount Airy about 2 years ago. Because of Covid restrictions at the time, there were long waits to get into places to eat. Nice little town. Some interesting places that did not try to capitalize on the Mayberry theme as well.

One interesting note. The Snappy Lunch and Floyd’s Barbershop are right next door to each other.



bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
https://youtu.be/-VWv4TDSVlw
LYDIA REED HASSIE on The
Real McCoys as JUANITA??
ncadams27 bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
Lydia Reed is 20 years younger than Don Knotts and was only 16 when TAGS began. Uhhh! - NO.
I actually liked this as a kid and I have no idea why!! By the way, that is not the original Theme song.
What was the Original Theme Song for The Real McCoys?
I love the theme songs for The Real McCoys The Ballad of
Gilligan's Island Green Acres
Petticoat Junction The Dukes of Hazzard and the cartoon series FREAKAZOID and The Jeffersons Theme Song.Those TV Theme Songs are some of the Best TV Theme Songs of All Time!!
ncadams27 18 months ago
Was the Snappy Lunch where Juanita worked? Would have liked to see this place as one of the hangouts like Floyd’s Barber Shop.

If you were doing the show then (1960-68), who would you have cast as Juanita and who else would be there (e.g., the owner or a cook)?
Load previous comments
How about a Mashup with
Mary Ann Summers (Dawn Wells) of Gilligan's Island and
Cpl. Boyle (Roy Stuart) of
GOMER Pyle USMC or a Mashup
Of Chuck Cunningham 2 Randolph Roberts and Roger Phillips Ted McGinley of Happy
Days or a Mashup of Ralph Malph Donny Most of Happy Days and Bag Zombroski Neil J Schwartz of Happy Days and
Finally A Mashup of Moose Barry Greenberg of Happy Days
And Eugene Belvin Denis Mandel of Happy Days as the Resident
Smart Nerds of Arnold's Drive In
Milwaukee on Happy Days?
A Gilligan's Island and Gomer Pyle USMC MASHUP with
Mary Ann Summers (Dawn Wells)and Lou Ann Poovie Elizabeth MacRae would be fun to watch or a Mashup with BOTH Chuck Cunningham s (Gavan O'Herlihy and Randolph Roberts) would also be fun to watch
I am going to DELETE the two episodes of Petticoat Junction and The 3 Stooges Short called A Merry Mix Up that I uploaded but I can't find the Articles where I uploaded the two episodes of Petticoat Junction and A Merry Mixup with the 3
Stooges Moe Larry and Joe.
Yes a good idea, not just MeTV programs, but any full episode , unless you know they are from who owns the rights to the program or whomever they have entrusted the distribution to. And usually your not going to find that they are freely distributed That's why there are Networks
( MeTV, Cozi, AntennaTV,The CW, Etc....) also some of the free streaming platforms
( Pluto, Tubi, Crackle, Etc....) They all have distribution rights to these various shows.
bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
TV characters like Mary Ann Summers
Corporal Boyle Bag Zombroski
Professor Roy Hinkley Wally Plumstead Professor Pepperwinkle
And The 3 Stooges Eddie Cantor and
Joe Penner and Pee Wee Herman
Would ALL have Fit In with the
Friendly Residents of both
Mayberry and Hooterville because the
TV persons that I mentioned were all
Easy Going and friendly and cool
Calm and collected persons.
Moose and Chuck Cunningham
From Happy Days would also
have been Ideal Residents of either Hooterville or Mayberry.
ncadams27 bagandwallyfan52 18 months ago
The Three Stooges ran a restaurant in one of their shorts. They could run the Snappy Diner.

MOE: Hi sheriff. What’ll you have?
ANDY: I’d like the special - filet of sole.
MOE (to CURLY in the kitchen): One filet of sole!
CURLY (cutting of the bottom of a shoe): One filet of sole - coming up!
LARRY (at the cash register, looking at Barney’s tie for stains): Soup, spaghetti with meatballs, and custard pie.
bagandwallyfan52 ncadams27 18 months ago
I LOVED the Pie 🥧 Throwing
On The 3 Stooges with Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard
Shemp Howard &Joe Besser
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