Moving Back 'Home:' Mount Airy lived up to couple's memories of TV show

Credit: Journal Photo by David Rolfe

Debbie and Darrel Miles in Mayberry on Main, their shop in Mount Airy. They first visited Mount Airy after learning that the fictional town of Mayberry, from The Andy Griffith Show, was based on it.

By: Tim Clodfelter | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: April 01, 2009

In the classic Andy Griffith Show episode "Stranger in Town," a man moved to Mayberry, N.C., because he had heard so many good things about the town.

And in real life, Darrel and Debbie Miles, big fans of The Andy Griffith Show, made the same decision.

They are originally from New Albany, Ind., but just over three years ago they decided to make the move to Mount Airy, the town that inspired Mayberry. They opened Mayberry on Main, a store on Main Street that sells memorabilia related to The Andy Griffith Show as well as hot sauces and salsa.

Debbie recalls the first time she found out that there was a real "Mayberry" back in 1992.

"Reruns of the show were always on during dinner time," she recalled. "Like any other family, we'd be getting dinner ready and The Andy Griffith Show would be on. Then one day when I was at work, my oldest daughter, Natalie, called and said, ‘Mom, there really is a Mayberry and Oprah's there!' I said, ‘Well, find out where it is!'"

When they got home, Natalie had written down the name of "Mount Airy, N.C."

"That minute on, we made arrangements to visit," Debbie said. "And then every year at least once a year we could come down."

They made the eight-hour drive to Mount Airy, first for the annual Mayberry Days festival and then more frequently. They made friends in Mount Airy during those visits.

"We found more and more times when we had a few days off, we'd be driving down to Mount Airy," Darrel said. They visited frequently over the course of about 13 years.

And when Darrel retired from the manufacturing company where he had worked for 32 years, they decided to move to Mount Airy.

"We decided about three years ago we were going to do something together," he said. "We started thinking about all the places we had visited and vacationed, and wondered, where would we like to live and have a small business and just have more time together?

"We talked about several places we enjoyed, and as big Mayberry fans as we were, we thought, ‘Oh, gosh.…'"

"‘Wouldn't that be great?'" Debbie said, finishing his thought.

Their oldest daughter, Natalie -- who is now 28 -- thought the move was a good idea.

Their youngest, Samantha, who is 25, wasn't so sure. "When we moved down here, she thought it was real corny," Darrel said. Eventually, their daughters moved to North Carolina as well.

Russell Hiatt, who runs Floyd's City Barber Shop on Main Street, said that he wasn't surprised when the Mileses decided to move to Mount Airy.

"They had been coming here every year, and always come in to see me," he said. "Then they came in one time and told me they were wanting to move here and go into business ... I was tickled because they were great folks. I helped them find a building."

The Mileses decided to move to Mount Airy and open a store on Main Street.

"I had not a clue about wholesale or retail," Darrel said.

"We had a few yard sales and those were always good," Debbie pointed out.

Much of their store space is filled with Mayberry memorabilia, including videotapes, DVDs, T-shirts, tin signs and more. They also sell coffee, and they have a wall lined with hot sauces, salsas, jellies and pickles, including some that Darrel has custom-ordered to have Andy Griffith Show-related labels.

After three years, the store has outgrown its original space, directly across the street from Floyd's City Barber Shop. They have moved into a larger space down the block, at 192 N. Main St.

Yesterday was their last day in the old store, and the new store is scheduled to open today.

They get a lot of repeat customers among people who visit Mount Airy regularly. They also draw locals such as Dana Hawks, a Mount Airy native who first met them when they were visiting town.

"They're nice people," she said. "I'm a regular. I come in here every day."

Some visitors think that The Andy Griffith Show was actually filmed in Mount Airy (it was filmed in California). "We try to break it to them gently, this is really Andy's hometown, this is the real place he lived," Debbie said. "We came for Mayberry, but Mount Airy, you fall in love with it. It's the kind of town everybody would want their hometown to be."

■ Tim Clodfelter can be reached at 727-7371 or at tclodfelter@wsjournal.com.