Page 140 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2023 LISBON EDITION
P. 140
GREETINGS, Y'ALL, FROM MOUNT AIRY
STORY AND PHOTOS BY SHARON WHITLEY LARSEN
BACKTOMAYBERRY
“Where are y'all from?” As actor Ron Howard, who played young
the charming, middle-aged woman asked my Opie, wrote in his recent bestselling book “The
Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family,” the
husband Carl and me as we approached her
opening whistling scene—as he and Andy Grif-
counter at the Mount Airy Visitors Center.
fith (who played his father, Sheriff Andy Taylor)
When we responded, “California,” she enthu-
carry fishing poles slung over their shoulders--
siastically commented, “Welcome! We have so was filmed in L. A.'s Franklin Canyon Park. Ron
many visitors from all over!” was only six when the series began, 14 when it
We had driven here—to this friendly small ended.
town of some 10,600 in the foothills of North “The '67-'68 season was number one in the
Carolina's gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains— Nielsen Ratings,” he writes, “drawing 35 million
about an hour from my cousins' homes in viewers a week.” Today grandparents—who
Wilkes County. As the many times since child- watched the original shows—bring their grand-
hood that I had visited my Southern relatives, children (who in recent years have seen the
this was my first visit to Mount Airy, the home- nostalgic, mostly black-and-white series via ca-
town of actor Andy Griffith and an inspiration
ble TV, etc.) to tour Mount Airy. A great, gener-
for small town Mayberry in the popular 1960s ational family outing!
television series, “The Andy Griffith Show.”
The quirky, funny, eccentric cast of charac-
After picking up tourist pamphlets, as we en-
ters—which included Deputy Barney Fife, Aunt
tered “Barney's Cafe” next door—to have a deli- Bee, Gomer and Goober Pyle, Otis, and Floyd
cious Barney Burger—we noted a large map of the Barber—epitomized folksy Southern charm,
the U. S.--as well as of the world—on the wall warmth and humor dealing with the various
by the door. And both maps were covered with small-town catastrophes, with a moral lesson
hundreds of colored pins from visitors all over and happy outcome for each 30-minute
the world. Obviously most must have been like episode.
me, who grew up on “The Andy Griffith Show,”
As Carl and I strolled Main Street, we passed
which ran from 1960 to 1968, although it didn't
by Floyd's Barber Shop, Opie's Candy Store--
actually film here—but in Los Angeles.
140 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2023
