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Mayberry is the name of a fictional town in North Carolina which was the setting for two American television sitcoms, The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.. Mayberry was also the setting for a 1986 reunion movie titled Return to Mayberry.

Contents 1 Introduction 2 The name Mayberry 3 Specific features 4 Mayberryites 5 Archetypal small town 5.1 Real Life Models 5.1.1 Becomes a generic term 5.1.2 Origins and expansion 5.2 Eponymous real life community 6 Town landmarks 6.1 Public Buildings 6.1.1 Adjacent to Court House 6.2 Public Entertainment Venues 6.3 Commercial Buildings 6.3.1 Places to eat 6.3.1.1 To eat and stay 6.4 Physical landmarks 7 References to Mayberry in Popular Culture 8 References

Mayberry, population 1,800, was a small, conservative rural community which is remembered as much for its slow-paced life as it was for the unique characters that inhabited it. [1]

The television show's community of Mayberry was apparently named for fictional founder Lord Mayberry. Historically, the word Mayberry is of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and is a locational name, a dialectical variant of the placename Maesbury in Shropshire. ^[1] Purportedly, Griffith himself chose the name of the fictional community.

Mayberry had one traffic stop and little in the way of indigenous crime save moonshining. Out of town bank robbers, scam artists, escaped convicts, and vagrants occasionally found their way to Mayberry.

• Sheriff Andy Taylor
• Deputy Barney Fife
• Andy's aunt, Beatrice Taylor (known as Aunt Bee) (Frances Bavier)
• Andy's son Opie (Ronny Howard)
• Opie's teacher and Andy's inamorata (later his wife) Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut)
• Barney's sweetheart (later his wife), occupation unknown, Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn)
• Barber Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear)
• Mayor Pike (Dick Elliott)
• Mayor Stoner (Parley Baer)
• Auto mechanic (later service station owner) Goober Pyle (George Lindsey)
• Service station attendant Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors)
• County Clerk Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson).
• Aunt Bee's best friend Clara Edwards (Hope Summers)
• Fix-it shop owner Emmett Clark (Paul Hartman)
• Town drunk Otis Campbell (Hal Smith), a descendant of a Revolutionary War hero.
• Pharmacist Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue)

Many towns in North Carolina have been proposed as "the original Mayberry," but many assume Mayberry was loosely based on Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina.^{[citation needed]} Griffith has also indicated that nearby Pilot Mountain, N.C., also in Surry County, North Carolina, inspired him in creating the town.^{[citation needed]} However, it is more likely that Pilot Mountain was the inspiration for the fictional town of "Mount Pilot",^{[citation needed]} a nearby larger town in relation to Mayberry, often referred to and occasionally visited by the characters in The Andy Griffith Show. The county seat of Surry County is in Dobson; thus, this is the location of the nearest courthouse to Mount Airy. In one of the episodes they also mention Galax, VA which is a town just up the mountain from Mt. Airy, NC.

Due to the success and notoriety of the television show, "Mayberry" has been used as a term for both idyllic small town life and for rural simplicity (for both good and ill). For example, in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a vampire says that the high death count in Sunnydale "makes D.C. look...like Mayberry."

Mayberry originated in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show and was the setting for The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry RFD and the 1986 reunion movie Return to Mayberry. Although the county seat of an agricultural county, black people were seen on the show only as anonymous faces in a few crowd scenes. Rockne Tarkington was the only black performer to appear on the show in a speaking role. He appeared in a one shot late season episode as Opie's football coach.

Mayberry is also the name of a real community that was located in Laurens County, Georgia, around the time of the Great Depression and World War II. It was situated between Rentz and Dexter, Georgia on what is now Mark Wood Road, and had its own railroad stop. The tracks are now gone, and trains no longer pass through the area. The population of the area has increased greatly, but it remains a rural location, at least three miles from the smallest nearby town.

• The Mayberry Courthouse — Where Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife maintained law and order. It also contained the county jail—all two cells. Aside from Andy Taylor's home, this was the main setting for The Andy Griffith Show.

• Taylor House - A humble yet handsome two-storey bungalow, only a short walk from the courthouse. Notable features include a front porch with a swing - perfect for conversation and guitar playing, a back porch with an extra refrigerator, and a living room with a high ceiling and rough hewn stone fireplace.

• The Grand Theatre — The movie theater where Andy and Barney often took their girlfriends (Helen Crump and Thelma Lou, respectively) on dates.

• Walker's Drug Store — This was the town drug store and soda shop owned by Fred Walker. His niece Ellie, also a pharmacist worked there for a while and was Andy's first girlfriend (played by Elinor Donahue) on the show. In the early episodes, characters often talked about "going to Walker's Drug Store for an ice cream soda."

• Floyd's Barber Shop — Run by the scatterbrained Floyd Lawson, it was the main center of action in Mayberry. On any given day, it was not unusual to see many of the town's important figures, including the Mayor and the Sheriff, gathered here.

• Foley's Grocery - Run by Mr. Foley. where Aunt Bea and her friends shop.

• Emmett's Fix-it Shop — Handyman Emmett Clark's business replaced Floyd's when Howard McNear left the show.

• Weaver's Department Store — Run by the miserly Ben Weaver.

• Wally's Filling Station — The town's only known gas station, it employed cousins Goober and Gomer Pyle. It also served as the town's auto repair garage.

• Bluebird Diner — This was the restaurant where Barney was often seen calling to talk to his secret love, the enigmatic waitress "Juanita".

• Snappy Lunch — A Mayberry diner named after a real eatery which still serves lunches in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

• Mayberry Hotel — Where out-of-towners often stayed, the Mayberry Hotel was also where choir director John Masters was employed.

• Myer's Lake — As seen in the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show, it was the place Andy and Opie Taylor went fishing, and where Barney often drove with Thelma Lou for their "romantic getaways".

• In the television show The X-Files Season 4 episode Home, Scully says "It will be like living in Mayberry" in reply to Mulder's thoughts about living in a small-town. Then, the sheriff of the town in which they are investigating a case walks up and introduces himself as Sheriff Andy Taylor, prompting Mulder to exclaim, "for real?!".
• The country music artist Rascal Flatts has written a song entitled "Mayberry" which can reasonably be assumed to be about the fictional town.

• Behind the Scenes of the Real Mayberry A behind the scenes look at The Andy Griffith Show and the real Mayberry, includes filming locations, the stars made on the show, and Mayberry trivia.