On The Road Again (Part 1)

It is wonderful to be on the road again. The last fourteen months have taken their toll on everyone, and it was exciting to get back to doing something we enjoy so much. I think that many of us have a new appreciation for the things we had taken for granted:  travel, visiting off-the-beaten-path small towns and quirky sights, meeting up with and enjoying a hug from old friends.  

There is an ironic appropriateness in our first RV trip since the onset of the pandemic. Our travels took us to Mt. Airy, NC, the boyhood home of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the iconic town of Mayberry, a simple slice of Americana.  “The Andy Griffith Show” depicted ordinary people in an ordinary small town in North Carolina, while completely ignoring Haight Ashbury, “the summer of love”, campus unrest, the Vietnam War and the chaos and turbulence of the 1960s.  Today, Mt. Airy offers a nostalgic opportunity to recapture what was perceived as a more innocent time.

Our destination was Mt. Airy in Surry County, NC, at the foot of the
Blue Ridge Mountains. Trees put the "blue" in the Blue Ridge
Mountains, from isoprene released into the atmosphere. 

Our first night out, a Friday, was spent in the small town of Leavenworth, Indiana, on the bank of the Ohio River, near the big turn in the river that the locals call Horseshoe Bend.  The RV park itself was very nice, with flat sites and extremely helpful folks.  Getting in was rather nerve-wracking. A curvy, narrow blacktop road, wide enough for only one vehicle, wound down a hill to the campground. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any other vehicles trying to exit.  The view of the Ohio River, its banks teeming with wildflowers, was lovely. Dozens of yellow canaries flitted from trees to the ground and back, adding to the bucolic ambience. What a joy to be out on the road again.

The Ohio River, about 50 miles downstream from Louisville, KY.
This view is looking up-river toward Louisville. That's Kentucky
that you can see on the other bank of the river.

The following day took us out of Indiana, through northern Kentucky, and into West Virginia. The lush grass pastures of Kentucky gave way to vibrant greens of West Virginia forests in the first blush of spring.  That night, we camped in a KOA just outside the town of Milton, WV and experienced what was once typical and now caused a rush of excitement and a sense of “normalcy”. The KOA has two small lakes, one of which is a swimming lake, and it was full.  People were visiting, kids were riding bicycles, and – what fun – a little girl’s eighth birthday party was just starting as we arrived. It was so heartening to see cars pull up and kids tumble out, laughing and hugging each other. The guest of honor, with her vibrant red hair, turned cartwheels with her friends at the lake’s edge, played games on blankets spread out in front of parents in lawn chairs, and finished the party with cupcakes and s’mores made over the fire pit. It was uplifting to see them having such a good time. This child’s birthday party was the first unabashed, joyful event we had witnessed in over a year - - and it was a wonderful scene. 

The KOA at Milton, WV.  The campground was full on the Saturday
that we were there, with lots of families with kids. Everyone seemed
to be glad to get out and enjoy themselves after a difficult year

Travelling through West Virginia's lush green hills on an overcast Sunday morning

On Sunday, we arrived at Mayberry Campground just outside of Mt. Airy. After getting set up we texted our friends Jimmie and Susanne, whom we had not seen in two years, and they drove over from their home, just over a half-hour away. After the “social distancing” rules of the last year-and-a-half, a hug from old friends was special.  Jimmie and Susanne graciously offered to show us around the area, and we gratefully accepted.

Our site at Mayberry Campground at Mt. Airy. This was our first trip with the
new truck, and it drove beautifully and pulled the trailer with ease

Our introduction to the area started with a visit to the Andy Griffith Museum, located in the old Rockford Grade School, which Andy attended.  The museum houses a collection of costumes and props from The Andy Griffith Show, plus props, costumes and other memorabilia from Griffith’s other memorable role as attorney Ben Matlock and from his movies, the most famous of which is No Time For Sergeants. 

The statue of Andy and Opie going fishing was modeled after the
opening scene in the show, which played under the credits. Ron Howard
(Opie) later said that scene was actually filmed at a park in Los Angeles

In addition to the Andy Griffith Museum, the building houses the Andy Griffith Playhouse that hosts community theatre productions and touring performances.  In the lower level of the building is a smaller museum that features the story of Eng and Chang Bunker.  (They took the surname Bunker after emigrating to the United States.)  Born in 1811 in present-day Thailand, then called Siam, the conjoined brothers were brought to the United States in 1829 and were “exhibited” in circuses as curiosities.  Their fame was responsible for term “Siamese Twins” becoming synonymous with conjoined twins in general.  By 1845, the brothers, rich by the day’s standards from many years of touring, settled in Mt. Airy.

After their days with the Ringling Bros. Circus, Eng and Chang
married sisters from North Carolina, and the two couples had a total
of 21 children, despite the brothers being conjoined at the sternum

Diehard Andy Griffith fans can even spend a night or two at his boyhood home, where Griffith lived with his mother and father until he graduated from high school. Located at 711 E. Haymore Street, just seven-tenths of a mile from the museum and playhouse, the two-bedroom home is furnished in period-appropriate furnishings. The home is now owned and operated by the Hilton hotel chain.

Andy Griffith (June 1, 1926 - July 3, 2012)  lived in this house from adolescence
through his graduation from high school. Andy Griffith was his real birth name.
He never took a stage name throughout his movie and television career

Dinner on our first night in North Carolina was at The Depot Restaurant at Cody Creek, a lodge-like structure set in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The atmosphere was relaxed, the menu extensive and delicious, and our dinner companions warm and welcoming.

The entrance and vestibule of The Depot restaurant near Mt. Airy, NC.
In addition to being a great restaurant, the place is a wedding venue
with a chapel and reception facilities 

Jimmie and Susanne insisted on acting as hosts and tour guides throughout our stay in Mt. Airy, and while we appreciated and enjoyed their company, we kind of thought we were taking advantage of their hospitality. Because of them, though, we did get to see and visit many places that we would probably have otherwise not found. A lovely ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway offered amazing vistas around every turn. A stop at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park (Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 294) gave us insight into what it takes to maintain a 23-room, 13,795-square-foot one-hundred-twenty-year-old mansion.  Construction of textile magnet Moses Cone’s “summer retreat” was begun in September 1899 and completed in 1901.  The Cone Denim Company was a major supplier of material to Levi Strauss & Co. for nearly a century. In 1949, the 3,500-acre estate became part of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, a unit of the National Park Service. 

In 1898, Moses Cone announced that he would build a home that would cost 100
times the price of an average home in the area. Expressed in today's dollars, that
would be over $600,000. Renovations to the exterior alone are estimated at $2.363
million, funded by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and the National Park Service

Mike in front of the Moses Cone house 

Looking out over the mountains from the Green Mountain Overlook.
The spot where we are standing is 4,134 feet above sea level.

Additional stops included the Linn Cove Viaduct, an engineering marvel – a 1,243-foot-long concrete segmented bridge that snakes around Grandfather Mountain, and a visit to the original Mast General Store in Valle Crusis.  Dating back to 1909, the Mast Store was operated by the Mast family until the early 1970s. An ad from 1920 proclaimed that the store offered “goods for the living; coffins and caskets for the dead.”  Today, owners John and Cheryl Cooper no longer carry coffins and caskets, but do carry items that would have been important to the community over a century ago, as well as modern items and a large selection of souvenirs.  

Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began in 1935. The Linn Creek Viaduct 
was the final link in the project. Funded by Congress in 1979, the viaduct was
completed in 1983 at a cost of $10 million, but did not open to the public until 1987

The Mast General Store houses the community's post office, and still serves
up a 5 cent cup of coffee. In addition to the original store, there is a Mast
Store Annex just down the street.

The store offers cast iron cookware, "speckle ware", old-fashioned toys, and
even a pair of galluses (look it up) if you need them, plus barrels and barrels of
old-fashioned "penny" candy - unfortunately, no longer a penny.

Susanne, Jimmie, Mike and Yvonne. I look at this picture and the first
thing that comes to mind is Oliver Wendell Douglas from "Green Acres".

Mike and I drove to Jimmie and Susanne’s house one morning and were struck by the lovely hydrangea bush growing next to their deck. That morning we visited Stone Mountain State Park (we were aware of Stone Mountain, Georgia, but had no idea that North Carolina has its own Stone Mountain).  The massive 600-foot-tall granite dome is part of an estimated 25 square mile pluton, an igneous rock formed beneath the earth's surface by molten lava.  At the base of the dome is the Hutchinson Homestead. The site showcases life on a farm in the 19th century with a log cabin, blacksmith shop, corn crib, meat house and, in season, a garden.

In addition to this cabin, the mid-1800s Hutchison Homestead includes a
blacksmith shop, a meat smokehouse, a corn crib, and a barn. The house
is furnished and the outbuildings equipped with authentic pieces from the
original homestead.  

Stone Mountain is a dome of exposed granite rising over 600 feet above the surrounding
terrain. It is known for its barren sides and distinctive brown-gray color, and is a 
favorite of rock climbers. It was designated a National Landmark in May 1974

A short hike from the main park road brings you to Widow Creek Falls, one of four named falls in the park. The main waterfall is about 25 feet tall and utterly stunning.  What makes this waterfall even more remarkable is that it empties into a small pool, followed by cascades that serve as a natural waterslide. The cold water runs over smooth rocks into a shallow pool before it trickles down a babbling brook. It is common for visitors to wade in the pool and slide down the natural waterslide. 

Widow Creek Falls and the boulders at the base of the falls.
For a perspective on just how big these rocks are, there is a couple
seated at the top of the rocks, just below the canopy of the trees.

The day continued with a stop in North Wilkesboro to meet Jimmie and Susanne’s son, Jason, followed by a short drive across the Yadkin River to Wilkesboro for lunch in an authentic 1950s diner, owned and operated by the grandson of NASCAR legend Junior Johnson. After lunch was a visit to the Wilkes County Heritage Museum, located in the old county courthouse.  The museum was well done, with collections of interesting artifacts highlighting the cultural and economic history of the area, the founding of NASCAR with its roots in the moonshine business, and the growth and development of the nationwide Lowe’s Home Improvement chain, started in Wilkes County by one man with a hardware store and a dream.  Part of the museum complex includes the old jail out back of the courthouse, which once held Tom Dula, a former Confederate soldier who was arrested, convicted of and hanged for the murder of a local woman, Laura Foster.  Nearly 100 years after he was executed, the saga of Tom Dula (whose name was pronounced “Dooley” in the local dialect) was re-told in the Kingston Trio’s number one hit recording “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley”.  Two more stops, first at the Eddy Merle Watson Garden of the Senses at Wilkes Community College and the second at an antique store – always a treat in my world – rounded out our day and we headed back to Jimmie and Susanne’s house to pick up our truck for the drive back to the RV campground.

The Wilkes County Courthouse was built in 1903. Since 2005, the Wilkes
Historical Museum has occupied the building.  The museum also operates
tours of the old Wilkes County jail, built in 1859.  

This is the Robert Cleveland home, probably the oldest dwelling in Wilkes
County. It was built between 1780 and 1790 by Revolutionary War veteran
Captain Robert Cleveland. It originally stood some 10 miles away,
and was moved to its present location in 1986.

     

Although Tom Dula was jailed in the Wilkes County Jail
(perhaps even in this cell) for the murder of Laura Foster,
he was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder (which
many believe he did not commit) in Statesville, NC.

One of Junior Johnson's early race cars. Robert Glen Johnson, Jr. was a bootlegger,
one of the founding fathers of NASCAR (he won 50 NASCAR races in the 50s and
60s before retiring in 1966) and a genuine folk hero in Wilkes County.  Johnson was
born in June 1931 and passed away in December 2019.

The Eddy Merle Watson Garden of the Senses features Braille-labeled plants and
trees, and sculptured music and alphabet walls. Merle Watson was a folk singer and
blues guitar artist best known for albums he recorded with his father, Doc Watson, who
was blind. Born in 1949, Merle died in a tractor accident in 1985; Doc died in 2012

The following morning, instead of the usual ritual of finding a laundromat either in town or at the campground, we tried out the new washer and dryer that we had installed in the trailer the previous fall.  Then off to meet our friends again, this time for lunch at another landmark.  Snappy Lunch has been serving up 5 cent bologna sandwiches and 10 cent hot dogs in the same location since 1923.  It is the only existing local business that was actually mentioned on The Andy Griffith Show.  In an early episode entitled “Andy the Matchmaker”, Andy suggested to Barney that they go down to the Snappy Lunch to get a bite to eat.  It was also in the 1960s that the owner began to perfect his signature creation, the World-Famous Pork Chop Sandwich. It has become a trademark meal for locals and visitors alike, and, of course, we had to try one.  While it is served in a variety of ways (all pretty messy) the “signature” version is a breaded and fried pork chop, served on a sandwich, topped with coleslaw and chili.  We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the business district of Mt. Airy (a.k.a. Mayberry) complete with Floyd's Barber Shop and Wally's Service Station, along with requisite t-shirt and souvenir shops, ice cream parlors and bakeries, and – lucky me – a couple of antique stores.

Snappy Lunch.  The building originally housed a general store that put in a lunch
counter to cater to the local workers. Supposedly, the restaurant got its name from
the demands of their clientele to get their lunch "and make it snappy."

Our final day in Mt. Airy started with a tour of the town and surrounding area in a vintage Ford police car like those used on the Andy Griffith Show. I say “those” because although Mayberry only ever had a single police car, the show’s creators got a new car from Ford each year. Our tour guide, Mark, was a font of fun facts and information about the town, the television show, and Andy Griffith’s early years in Mt. Airy.  The tour included the church that Griffith attended as a young man, his original home, the school he attended (now the playhouse and museum), and the statue of Andy and Opie walking with their fishing poles on their shoulders. The statue was based on the scene shown under the opening credits in every episode of the show.  Mark also took us to the largest open-faced granite quarry in the world, located on the outskirts of town. This incredible granite quarry is the reason for Mt. Airy’s nickname of “the Granite City."

You want a ride in the Mayberry Squad Car?  Get your hands up...

The Mt. Airy Granite Quarry is the largest open-faced granite quarry in the world,
encompassing some sixty surface acres. It has operated for 120 years and, literally,
only scratched the surface. Scientists estimate that the underground portion of
the rock that you can't see is 7 miles long, 1 mile wide, and 8,000 feet deep.

In the television show, Andy and Barney often referred to the town of Mount Pilot. Somebody was always “going up to Mount Pilot” for one reason or another. Well, Mount Pilot doesn’t really exist, but Pilot Mountain does, and that is the basis for the name of the fictional town of Mount Pilot.  We decided to visit Pilot Mountain after our squad car tour, so we met up with Jimmie and Susanne and off we went.  It is a relatively easy drive up the mountain to the park located near the summit, and the views of the Yadkin River Valley stretching out to the south and southwest are spectacular.

Looking out over the Yadkin River Valley from Pilot Mountain. The Yadkin River is
one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, at 215 miles in length. Several parts
of the river are impounded by dams for water, power and flood control.

The state park on Pilot Mountain is on the west side of the mountain, near the summit.
The east side of the mountain, which has been used as a landmark for thousands of
years, rises well above the level of the park, peaking at 2,421 feet above sea level.
 

Jimmie and Susanne at Pilot Mountain

Mountain laurel, also known as calico bush or spoonwood, is a flowering plant
that grows well in shade. There was a lot of it on Pilot Mountain, and it was beautiful

Our next stop was in the city of Winston-Salem, where we visited the original village of Old Salem, an historic district originally settled by the Moravian community in 1766. The Moravian Church, a Protestant denomination, was established in 1457 in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic.  Salem was to be the central town of a 98,985-acre tract named Wachovia.  Construction began in 1766 to build the central economic, religious and administrative center of the Wachovia tract. The outlying communities, eventually five in all - Bethabara, Bethania, Friedberg, Friedland, and Hope - were more rural and focused on agriculture.  Salem and most of the other communities were controlled by the church, which owned all property, and only leased land for construction. All people in the communities had to be members of the church and could be expelled from the town if they acted contrary to the community's regulations. 

The Moravians settled this town and named it Salem. In 1849, Forsyth County was
established and Salem was selected as the county seat. The Moravian community
did not want the seat of government in their town, and sold land some land to the north
for the new county seat, which was immediately named Winston; thus Winston-Salem

In the Marovian cemetery, men are buried in one section, women in another, and
children in yet another section. People are buried chronologically in the order in
which they die. The simple, recumbent headstones reflect the belief that all of
the dead are equal in the eyes of God.

Among other things, this area of North Carolina gave us NASCAR,
Lowe's Home Improvement Centers, and KRISPY KREME donuts

Dinner that evening at the Gondola Italian Restaurant gave us a final opportunity to say “thank you” and “so long” to our gracious hosts, who had shown us places that we otherwise would not have seen in the northwest corner of North Carolina.  So, that’s the story of our trip to Andy Griffith’s “Mayberry”, our visit with our good friends in Wilkes County, and after more than a year off the road, the chance to resume our Road Stories.