Quixotic Journeys ...: North Carolina, part 1

Before we continue our journey along the Blue Ridge Parkway, let’s take an extra day to relax and explore the town of Mt. Airy, North Carolina. For those of you my age or older, you may remember watching Andy Griffith as the Sheriff of Mayberry on television. Andy Griffith was an American actor, comedian, and singer from Mt. Airy. This small town has re-invented itself into the Mayberry of television fame.

For those of you who do not know who Andy Griffith is, it’s best to start at the Andy Griffith Museum. Griffith was a comedian and if you want to have a real laugh, listen to his comedic monologue “What it was, was Football!” as described by “Deacon Andy Griffith”. This is hysterical and we listened to the whole thing in the museum.

Griffith was in several movies, most notably “No Time for Sergeants” which also features Don Knots and a theme that we see later with Gomer Pyle!

The theme song of the television show “Mayberry” is “The Fishin Hole”. The show begins with this theme as Andy and son, Opie, are walking down to the fishing hole, whistling as they go.

The Museum has the original theme song by Earle Hagen with the lyrics, written by Everett Sloan, and an audio where you can hear all the words.

The Sheriff's deputy, Barney Fife, played by Don Knots, was partial to salt-and-pepper suits.

Another character on the show was Goober Pyle, played by George Lindsey. Here is one of his “Goober suits” and his felt beanie (“Goober hat”).

The Museum features other props from the television show, like these Mayberry Jail keys and this sidecar that Barney rode in during one episode!

And if you want to ride around the town of Mayberry, oops, I mean Mt. Airy, in style, then you can take a ride in an old 1950’s Sheriff car like Andy drove!