June 6, 2011: Mt. Airy, NC

We spent the day in Mt. Airy. It was a small town north of Winston-Salem.  It was best known as the town that Andy Griffith grew up in.       The TV show, "Andy Griffith Show" was based on this town.     We took the squad car tour that took us first to the huge granite producing site.       This granite was used in building many of the buildings in Washington D.C.   Granite weathers very well, so you don't have to clean or replace it.   

The Sheriff took us down Main St.   We saw the barber shop that Andy Griffith got his haircuts at.   Saw the famous restaurant "Snappy Lunch" which is the only restaurant mentioned in the TV show.     Again, we went by the childhood home of Andy Griffith.

It was fun to take this tour around town.      Then, mom and I went inside the courthouse which was based in the show.      We went to the Andy Griffith Museum.  Andy's good friend in town is the person responsible for getting this museum started.       They are still friends to this day.

Andy Griffith started out his career in gospel music. He performed in some plays in school.      He attended the University of North Carolina near Raleigh.    He has been married 3 times.   He adopted a son who died of alcoholism and has 1 daughter.  He has been married to his last wife, Cindy, since 1983.

Andy currently lives in a North Carolina coastal city.

We had lunch at the Snappy Lunch.    The breaded cheeseburgers were delicious. Andy used to come to this restaurant at lunch as a kid, as the school didn't have a cafeteria.      
We stopped by the Floyd's barber and met the barber who has cut Andy's hair many times.      In fact,  he works from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has cut hair for almost 64 years.
He took a picture of us and will put it on his wall collage.   He has over 18,000 photos of people who have met him. They are all over the walls in the barber shop.   Each haircut is still $8.

We went on a tour of this Gertrude's home.  The lady conducting the tour was very hospitable. She invited us to sit down and chat and have us some water.  She gave us hugs on the way out.   I sure love this southern charm and friendliness.      It is nice to see people not in such a hurry, too.     I prefer not to be rushed anymore with things.       I don't think I could live in a city like Chicago again, as I enjoy medium to smaller cities.