Aunt Bee Taylor

Beatrice Taylor (commonly known as Aunt Bee) is a resident of the town of Mayberry, NC as seen on the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. The show was televised on CBE from October 3, 1960, until April 1, 1968. Aunt Bee when on to spend two seasons on the spinoff Mayberry R.F.D. (1968–1971) when The Andy Griffith Show ended its run. Though she was the aunt of Sheriff Andy Taylor, virtually everyone in Mayberry called her "Aunt Bee."

About Aunt Bee

Aunt Bee is the paternal aunt of Sheriff Andy Taylor and she is the great-aunt to Andy's son Opie Taylor. We first meet Aunt Bee when she returns to Mayberry after a five-year absence in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Ref: premiere episode of The Andy Griffith Show, "The New Housekeeper")

Andy's housekeeper Rose marries and leaves Andy and Opie without a caregiver so Aunt Bee returns to manage Andy's household and become the mother figure in Opie's life. Andy explains to Opie that he was also raised by Aunt Bee. Aunt Bee later mentions having raised other children but we never learn more about that part of her life.

Aunt Bee is well known in Mayberry for her cooking skills. She is know for her fried chicken, with all the trimmings, and for her amazing, wholesome, home-cooked meals. She frequently contributes meals to community or church events and brings picnic baskets of food to Mayberry's County jail for its lawmen and inmates.

While Aunt Bee is celebrated for her cuisine, she somehow falls short when making pickles or marmalade. Andy and Barney go so far as to refer to her pickles as "kerosene cucumbers".

Andy is fond of her pork chops and cornbread biscuits, while Opie's favorite dish is her butterscotch pecan pie.

Aunt Bee's other relatives sometimes come up in episodes; she speaks of trimming her brother's hair when a girl and, in one episode, her sister Nora visits. She also has a rapscallion cousin called Bradford J. Taylor who features in a color episode. Bee is a teetotaler. In an episode in which a traveling salesman comes to Mayberry peddling patent medicine, Andy tells Barney that Aunt Bee is heavily against alcohol due to her brother's trouble with the bottle. (It is unclear whether this brother is meant to be Andy's father, or one of Andy's uncles.) In the same episode, Bee plays the piano and speaks of her baptism. Bee is a member of the town choir and sings in church.

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