Mayberry

FAQ: Mayberry

Driving into the town of Mayberry, North Carolina, a visitor would the sign at the Mayberry city limits that reads "Welcome to Mayberry, The Friendly Town." Mayberry is located in the northwestern part of the state and is the county seat of Mayberry County. It was founded by James Merriweather in the year 1864(estimated). The town was destroyed by fire in 1870 by "Rotten" Ray Ancrum (who later established the Ancrum Charcoal Company).

The elevation of the town is 671 feet, and its population was a little less than 2,000 at the beginning of the 1960s. According to the statistics on a sign at the train depot, the population rose to 5,360 by 1968. Mayberry is a beautiful town with an abundance of flower gardens and earned the nickname the "Garden City of the State." The Garden Club sponsors an annual flower show, with competition in gladiola, snapdragon, pansy and rose divisions.

A notable town landmark is "The Old Oak Tree" in the middle of town. The town square there is a cannon with the initials T.R. scratched on it (the handiwork of Tracy Rupert, not Teddy Roosevelt) whose muzzle busted after it misfired during a Fourth of July celebration. Near the center of town is the David Mendelbright Memorial Horse Water Trough which states "Let no horse go thirsty here" (1870-1933). Another landmark is the old Rimshaw House, a "haunted" house where Old Man Rimshaw is rumored to have killed his hired hand with an ax.

Mayberry has one traffic light and little in the way of crime with the exception of moonshining. Out-of-town bank robbers, scam artists, escaped convicts, and vagrants occasionally find their way to Mayberry. The county and the town share the same name and jurisdiction. The mayor of nearby Greendale relates that Mayberry County has had the lowest crime rate in the state for two years in a row under Sheriff Taylor. The town only has one long-distance telephone line (episode "Man in a Hurry") that two old ladies share each Sunday preventing others from using the telephone.

Mayberry Establishments and Organizations

• All Soul's Church
• The Blue View (Episode Opie's Fortune)
• Bluebird Diner
• Bobby Fleet and his Band with a Beat
• Diamond Jim's (Episode Bargain Day)
• Emmett's Fix-It Shop
• Esquire Club (in Raleigh, Episode The Clubmen)
• Fair Grounds
• Fleur Des Lis Beauty Salon
• Floyd's Barbershop
• Foley's Grocery
• G&G Filling Station (Return to Mayberry)
• Gibson Hotel
• Greater Mayberry Historical Society and Tourist Bureau, Ltd. (Episode Crime-Free Mayberry)
• The Grand Theater
• The Half Moon Trailer Park
• H. Goss, Tailor (Episodes Jailbreak and Wedding Bells for Aunt Bee)
• L. Lukins Store (Episode The Bed Jacket)
• Mayberry Courthouse
• Mayberry Gazette
• Mayberry Hotel
• Mayberry Library
• Mayberry Security Bank
• Mayberry Union High School
• Mendelbright Park Apartments
• Monroe's Funeral Parlor (Episode The Guitar Player)
• Morelli's
• Mort's Clothing
• Regal Order of the Golden Door to Good Fellowship (aka Mayberry Lodge, Episode The Lodge)
• Sterling Jewelry Store (Episode The Rumor)
• The Sound Committee (Opie's Rock Band, Episode Opie's Group)
• Walker's Drugstore
• Wally's Filling Station
• Waverly Malt and Hops Shop
• Weaver's Department Store

Mayberry Location

• Main Street
• Bus Stop
• Duck Pond
• Freight Yard (Episode Opie's Hobo Friend)
• Half Moon Trailer Camp (located on River Road, Episode Jailbreak)
• Lover's Leap (Episode Opie's Fortune)
• Mendelbright Memorial Horse Trough (Episode The Darlings Are Coming)
• Mount Pilot
• Myers Lake
• Old Man Kelsey's Woods (Episode The Education of Ernest T. Bass)
• Robert E. Lee Natural Bridge (Mountain Wedding)
• Taylor House (24 Elm Street, Episode Jailbreak, 14 Maple Street, 332 Maple Road)
• The Old Oak Tree
• Myers Lake
• Rimshaw House
• Floyd's Barbershop
• Mayberry Courthouse

Public buildings

• The Mayberry Courthouse is where Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife maintain law and order. It contains jail—two cells and a back room. The city mayor's office upstairs.
• Mayberry Savings Bank, the town's only bank, contains a large vault. The bank is protected by security guard, Asa, who often falls asleep and whose gun is filled with moldy bullets and has been known to fall apart. The vault combination was lost so an extra door was put in the vault possiblly after Barney Fife locked himself in the safe and escaped by breaking the wall between the vault and the next-door beauty parlor.
• U.S. Post Office – the town's only post office
• Mayberry Union High School – the high school attended by Andy and Barney (who graduated in 1945 "Class Reunion" or 1948 "The Return of Barney Fife").

Real World Mayberry

Mayberry is a real community in Patrick County, Virginia, located 22 miles northeast of Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina. The Mayberry Trading Post, is the home of what was the Mayberry, Virginia post office until it closed in 1922. Andy Griffith and his father made many trips to the Mayberry Trading Post. Andy Griffith incorporated several community places and names from his childhood home into The Andy Griffith Show.

The name "Mayberry" is mentioned many times on television series such as Cheers, House, M.D., Criminal Minds, Supernatural, How I Met Your Mother, and Scrubs.

According to the episode "The Battle of Mayberry", the town was almost named Taylortown in honor of Colonel Carleton Taylor, who was one of the first settlers in the town. There actually is a Taylortown in North Carolina, but it has nothing to do with the fictional town of Mayberry.