On Tuesday, Lyle and I arrived in Mt. Airy, NC after a 12 and a half hour drive
from IL. We easily found 711 Haymore (where Andy Griffith lived from 1935 -
1944). We pulled into the driveway and made our way inside to the small house.
First, as you open the (old) door, there's a dining room to your right (we
learned later that this part was actually the front porch when Andy lived
there...sometime later it was converted into a dining room). Thirties dining
room furniture greeted us as we walked inside. To our left was a small table
with a guestbook with visitor's signatures and notations of their stays at the
house. In front of us stood a small wall, which had Andy's birth certificate.
Interestingly, we discovered that it read that he born on June 4, 1926 and not
June 1st. We figured that in those days, perhaps they weren't able to draw up
a birth certificate until a few days after the baby's official birth. Also, I
should note, as you come into
the house, to your left is a picture of Andy's graduating class (May 26,
1944). Being the World War II history buff that I am, I'm going to mention
that there were quite a few men in his graduating class and I wondered how many
of them went off to war after that. Andy graduated from high school about a
week and a half before the D-Day landings in Normandy (June 6, 1944. He was 17
when he graduated and would turn 18 that June 1st. (A side note: I would like
to thank the person for telling the story they heard from Andy's best friend,
Emmett Forrest, about when they were nine years old, swinging on that rope and
Andy fell and hurt his back real badly. This very well could've been the case
of why he didn't go to war after high school (like so many others did in those
days). I heard from somewhere else that it might've been religious reasons
keeping Andy out of the war, but I don't think he was conscienscous
objector--especially at a time like WWII.
This reason sounds more logical to me as they didn't have the medical advances
that they have today back during the Depression). Anyway, below Andy birth
certificate was a picture of Andy and his parents from 1966. This was when his
parents sold the house on Haymore Street and he moved them to CA so he could be
closer to them. Oddly enough, his parents are buried in CA, while Andy moved
back to NC--oh well, you don't know where your life will take you sometimes.
When you pass the dining room, you enter the *real* inside of the house. To
your right, is the living room, decaroted with sixties furniture and old lamps.
There is a modern TV with a VCR and DVD player. Next to the TV, hung a fake
bird cage with three stuffed birds in it--yep, Opie's birds--Winkin', Blinkin',
and Nod. If you turned left, you would walk right into what had been Andy's
parents room so long ago. A 40's era chest of drawers stood in from of you,
with a mirror on top of it. There was a real, yet old brass bed in there too,
along with a full-length mirror. If you turned around went out of that room
and down the small hall and turned a sharp right, you'd be in the bathroom,
which was also carpeted like the rest of the house (except for the dining room
and kitchen). There was dark wood paneling on the walls of the bathroom and
then shower curtain went all the way around the bathtub (as if there had been a
claw bathtub in the house at
one point when Andy had lived there). Next to the bathroom, was the kichen.
The cabinet doors were painted white, while the borders were painted a
cheerful, old fashioned yellow. These probably had never been updated, but
they sure were kept well. If you opened the pantry door, you found '30's style
wallpaper with yellow and green flowers. Next to that was a late 50's style
stove that was about 40 inches wide and it had a double oven. One oven was
skinny than the other. I made Jiffy Pop popcorn on that oven. It was electric
and yes, it still worked fine. :) The sink was probably the same as well since
Andy had lived there. Off of the kitchen, is another doorway and it leads to
Andy's room. Now, if any of you grew up in a small bedroom, think again,
because Andy's bedroom while he lived there from ages 9-18 was 8 feet long by 3
and a half feet wide. It was only big enough to barely fit a chest of drawers
in there and hardly any room to fit a
twin bed. Off of Andy's room, was the back porch (in Andy's time) which now
was converted into another bedroom. (I do have a story about Andy's house from
when he lived there). I was listening to these elderly men talk at Floyd's
City Barber Shop while Lyle was getting his haircut and one of them said that
when Andy came from the TV Land dedication stature of Andy and Opie in 2002,
Andy and Cindi stayed at the house and Andy told the story that one cold night,
him and his parents kept themselves warm by sitting around the stove (they must
not have had coal heat or radiators or something). Anyway, Andy went on to say
that he ran off to bed (in his tiny room) and throwing all the quilts and
blankets around him to keep warm. Well, the next morning, when they all got
up, the kitchen floor was covered in ice! That's because a pipe had froze and
then burst overnight, causing the kitchen floor to be an ice rink. So, the
three of them chopped up the ice
that morning.
Lyle and I ended staying at the Andy Griffith Homeplace for two nights. We
were very lucky because we had only reserved it for one night and that was six
months ago. An opening became available for the next night and we grabbed it.
After that, we stayed at the Hampton Inn in Mt. Airy. I did not want to leave
Andy's childhood home. I loved it there and was glad we had the chance to stay
there because it is so hard to get a night there. It fills up quickly. It was
so peaceful, but starting at 8 in the morning, you would have squad car tours
coming down the street, cars honking at the house every once in awhile, and
people getting out of their cars to take pictures of themselves by Andy's
house. We have pictures too and we even walked the property line. It was 70 X
140. It was nice size lot. The siding and roof have been redone (they are not
from the '30s, but the windows are). Andy's parents had bought the house in
1935 for $600. We saw the
deed to the house as well, hanging up on the wall. Andy and Cindi even signed
their names in the guestbook and their signatures were framed and hung on the
wall. I'm sure it brough back a ton of memories for Andy when he stayed there
in 2002, after all, he had left in 1944 to go to college.
I will write more about our adventure to Mayberry Days 2008. This is getting
quite long and I have so much to say about our first year there. Another side
note: Tom it is so wonderful to see you posting again and congratulations on
your getting a new computer! It will be much, much easier for you to use when
you post. I look forward to reading your posts, as I always have.
-Kristi
"In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway. And so it would be
a crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so
solemnly that we would put off doing those things for which we were
intended for in the first place, the opportunity to do good work, to fall
in love, to enjoy friends, to hit a ball and to bounce a baby" --Alistaire Cooke
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