Two authentic landmarks...
... on North Main Street in Mount Airy, NC:
1. The Snappy Lunch diner, opened in 1923 and is still serving great biscuits and its famous pork chop sandwiches.
2. The Downtown Cinema Theatre (check the marquee in large) from where theMount Airy WPAQ 740 AM radio station broadcasts its live radio show "Merry-Go-Round every week - a Bluegrass and Old-Time music show that began airing in 1948! (www.visitmayberry.com/detailsnorthcarolina.asp?BusinessID...)
The area where the town is located was referred to as "The Hollows" a long time ago. In 1747 the father of Thomas Jefferson, Peter Jefferson, and Joshua Frye surveyed the area and made the first known map of it. The area is surrounded by mountains, so maybe that was the inspiration for the original name. Gradually many small communities developed, and eventually several of them together became what's now known as Mount Airy.
Mount Airy, N.C. is a small town, with a population of about 10,390 people, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was incorporated in1885, and did very well producing tobacco, furniture, textiles and granite from the (very large) granite quarry. By the 1960s those industries had begun to dwindle, and the passage of NAFTA in the late 1980s closed down most of the remaining textile mills. The town has developed a new economy based on the popularity of the old TV show, The Andy Griffith Show, inspired by many of the experiences of Andy Griffith while growing up there.
Mount Airy has also made it onto many a list of best small towns of America...
Two authentic landmarks...
... on North Main Street in Mount Airy, NC:
1. The Snappy Lunch diner, opened in 1923 and is still serving great biscuits and its famous pork chop sandwiches.
2. The Downtown Cinema Theatre (check the marquee in large) from where theMount Airy WPAQ 740 AM radio station broadcasts its live radio show "Merry-Go-Round every week - a Bluegrass and Old-Time music show that began airing in 1948! (www.visitmayberry.com/detailsnorthcarolina.asp?BusinessID...)
The area where the town is located was referred to as "The Hollows" a long time ago. In 1747 the father of Thomas Jefferson, Peter Jefferson, and Joshua Frye surveyed the area and made the first known map of it. The area is surrounded by mountains, so maybe that was the inspiration for the original name. Gradually many small communities developed, and eventually several of them together became what's now known as Mount Airy.
Mount Airy, N.C. is a small town, with a population of about 10,390 people, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was incorporated in1885, and did very well producing tobacco, furniture, textiles and granite from the (very large) granite quarry. By the 1960s those industries had begun to dwindle, and the passage of NAFTA in the late 1980s closed down most of the remaining textile mills. The town has developed a new economy based on the popularity of the old TV show, The Andy Griffith Show, inspired by many of the experiences of Andy Griffith while growing up there.
Mount Airy has also made it onto many a list of best small towns of America...