Touring ‘Mayberry’

Take A Ride In A Squad Car And Explore Mount Airy, N.C.

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. – Roger Sickmiller tours the streets so slow it almost feels like he’s driving in black and white.
This part-time pastor patrols the paved paths of Mount Airy, N.C.
And, while he’s dressed like a cop, and his car looks like a cop’s, he’s only going to arrest you with laughter in his 1964 Ford Galaxie 500.
Sickmiller is one of 10 different drivers for the Mayberry Squad Car Tours, an enterprise engaged in escorting visitors around Mount Airy, the hometown of TV personality Andy Griffith.
Annually, thousands pour into this Tarheel town – just below the Carroll County, Va., border – to see what real-life spots might have inspired the plots and places of Mayberry, N.C., on CBS-TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show” (1960-68).
“The most popular question asked is, ‘Was it filmed here?’ ” said Mike Cockerham, the owner of Mayberry Squad Car Tours. “None of it was filmed here. And, like I tell people, back in that day, in the ’60s, you had to go to Hollywood to film anything.”

ON THE TOUR
Back in the day, back in the ’60s, Griffith lived in California – thousands of miles from his hometown of Mount Airy. Still, TV scripts referenced sites around Mount Airy like the Snappy Lunch, a Main Street landmark that serves pork chop sandwiches. That real-life restaurant is on the tour.
So is Mount Airy’s Bluebird Diner, also mentioned on the folksy show.
But, wait – before we buckle up and take a ride, let’s learn more. The squad car tours began in 2002 as a side-venture for Cockerham, an electronics technician for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Cockerham combined an appreciation for Mount Airy and “The Andy Griffith Show” with a fondness for antique automobiles, especially the roomy Ford Galaxie, used in his fleet of 1960s-era squad cars.
Climbing aboard, you instantly feel like you’re in a TV-land time warp.

‘GRANITE CITY’
But this is more than Mayberry. Squad car tours begin at the North Carolina Granite Corporation – site of the largest open-face granite quarry in the world.
“It’s so large you can see it from outer space,” Sickmiller said. “Long before Andy Griffith made Mount Airy famous as Mayberry, from the turn of the century, Mount Airy has always been known as the Granite City.”
Slipping past the Sobotta Manor Bed & Breakfast, the tour rolls down West Pine Street. The squad car arches over the Ararat River and eases past Brenda’s Kountry Kitchen and Weddles Service Center.
“See all the beautiful homes lining Main Street?” asked Sickmiller, who operates his own Maxwell House Bed and Breakfast.
Sickmiller points out the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History and the offices for the Mount Airy News.
He shows off the 1903 Gertrude Smith House, a former private home now used for public art exhibits.

PLAYHOUSE
Then he pulls into the Andy Griffith Playhouse, where you’ll find a TV Land statue of Andy Griffith, as Sheriff Andy Taylor, and Ronnie Howard, as his young son, Opie Taylor.
At this old brick school building, according to Sickmiller, is where the multitalented Griffith’s career began – as a third grader, when he jumped on stage and started singing.
Inside, today, you’ll find a wide range of exhibits showcasing Griffith’s life.
Around the corner, you’ll find Haymore Memorial Baptist Church, where Griffith worshipped.
Within walking distance stands a modest home at 711 E. Haymore St., available for rent by overnight guests. This was Griffith’s family home, starting in 1935, while the future “Matlock” star was living in Mount Airy.
Griffith, now 83 and living in Manteo, N.C., sold the house in 1966.
At the time, “The Andy Griffith Show” ranked among the highest rated shows on television.
‘WHERE’S BARNEY?”
Andy Griffith – and all things Mayberry – constantly lures visitors here.
“Ninety-plus percent of the tourists coming to Mount Airy and this area are coming for Andy Griffith and his relation to Mount Airy,” said Tanya Jones, the executive director of the Surry Arts Council in Mount Airy.
Getting around Mount Airy – or “Mayberry” – takes about a half-hour in the squad car tour.
“We have several drivers,” Sickmiller said. “So it depends on who you ride with. They might tell you different stories than what I would tell you.”
At the tour headquarters, you can act like a goober at what was once an actual working service station – now called Wally’s, in honor of a place on the show. Next door stands a replica of the old Mayberry jail – the hangout for Sheriff Andy Taylor and his sidekick deputy, Barney Fife.
Fife – played by the late Don Knotts – was the character that “made” the show, Cockerham figured.
For a few minutes, taking his own turn at the wheel of a squad car, Cockerham waved and smiled as some tourists stood on sidewalks, shouting at him.
Inside the squad car, Cockerham could not stop laughing.
“They all holler ‘Barney!’ ” Cockerham said, smiling. “’Hey, where’s Barney? Oh, that’s not Barney ... ‘ ”

IF YOU GO: WHILE IN MOUNT AIRY, N.C.
Andy Griffith’s Homeplace, 711 E. Haymore St., (336) 789-5999, http://www.andyshomeplace.com.
Andy Griffith Playhouse, 218 Rockford St., http://www.mayberrydays.org.
Floyd’s City Barber Shop, 129 N. Main St., (336) 786-2346.
Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce/Mount Airy Visitors Center, 200 N. Main St., (800) 948-0949, http://www.visitmayberry.com.
Maxwell House Bed & Breakfast, 618 N. Main St., (336) 786-2174.
Mayberry Squad Tours & Wally’s Service Station, 625 S. Main St., (336) 789-OPIE, http://www.tourmayberry.com.
Snappy Lunch, 125 N. Main St., (336) 786-4931, http://www.thesnappylunch.com.
Sobotta Manor Bed & Breakfast, 347 West Pine St., (336) 786-2777, http://www.sobottamanor.com.