North Carolina - back to Mt. Airy

June 16, 2019 - June 19, 2019

Mt. Airy is where Andy Griffith was born and raised.  The town of Mayberry in the Andy Griffith show is based on Mt. Airy.  We visited here last year and really enjoyed the town so we went back for another look.  One of the towns frequently mentioned on the Andy Griffith show is Mt. Pilot.  The actual town near Mt. Airy is Pilot Mountain.  That name doesn't run off the tongue quite so easily so I can see whey they changed it.  Either that and to possibly to protect the innocent.  At any rate, there is an actual Pilot Mountain which you can see from miles away.

Pilot Mountain panorama

View of Pilot Mountain from another rocky outcrop in Pilot Mountain State Park.
The trail you see allows people to hike up to the base of the mountain.

Two views off the rocky outcrop in Pilot Mountain State Park.

Barney's namesake road in Mayberry Campground, where we stayed while we were there.
Barney was embarrassed by the whole thing!

Saw this really awesome metal firepit in one of the camp spots.

We went into town to just wander around and came upon the Mt Airy Museum of Regional History.  You never know what you'll find in a small local museum.  This one was really well done.

The early days of Mt. Airy.  Way back and way way back.

The Saura Indians where the indigenous people in this area and the museum had a very nice display of one of their dwellings.

This would have been a winter dwelling.  Their summer homes had only a roof with the sides being open.

Two views inside the dwelling.

We didn't realize there was an enormous granite mine just outside of Mt. Airy until we saw this information in the museum.  Would have loved to see it in person.
  

We seen some amazing buildings made of sandstone, limestone, granite, etc. so we found this example of a typical stonecutter's station quite interesting.  It didn't explain how these items were used only that "...stonecutters raised and lowered six and seven pound hammers, hundreds of times each day, carving and shaping the formless pieces of granite."
(Those heavy hammers seem to be missing from this station!)

The museum had this nice example of a settlers cabin.  Such a different life than what we live these days.

Neat old hand made wheelbarrow with removable sides for added utility.

Old farm wagon with all its original parts.

Nice collection of old trunks and luggage at the railway station.

Of course the museum wouldn't be complete without a tribute to their local home town hero.