Mount Airy, North Carolina

Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, near the Virginia state line at the foot of the Blue Ridge. It had a population of 10,676 at the 2020 census.^[1] Mount Airy is known for its large granite quarry, which gave it the nickname “The Granite City,” and as the hometown of actor Andy Griffith, whose memories of the town are widely seen as an inspiration for the television town of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show.^[2]

History[edit]

Early settlement[edit]

The area grew up in the 18th and early 19th centuries along a road running between the North Carolina Piedmont and southwestern Virginia. The name is generally traced to a local plantation called Mount Airy.^[3] The community developed slowly as a trading point for the surrounding farms and was incorporated in 1885.^[3]

Chang and Eng Bunker[edit]

The conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker, born in Siam in 1811 and famous from their years of touring exhibition, settled in Surry County in the 1840s after leaving show business. They married sisters, farmed near Mount Airy, and raised large families. The twins died in 1874 and are buried at White Plains Baptist Church near the city.^[2]

Railroad and granite[edit]

The arrival of the railroad in the late 1880s connected Mount Airy to larger markets. Quarrying of the large granite outcrop on the edge of the town began in the late 19th century, and the quarry has often been described as the largest open-face granite quarry in the world.^[2] Mount Airy granite has been used in buildings and monuments across the country, including the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills.^[4]

Andy Griffith and Mayberry[edit]

Andy Griffith was born in Mount Airy in 1926 and grew up there. The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968) was set in the small town of Mayberry, and many residents and visitors see Mount Airy as its model. Since 1990 the city has held an annual Mayberry Days festival each September, and the Andy Griffith Museum opened in the city in 2009.^[2]

Economy[edit]

For much of the 20th century Mount Airy's economy rested on granite, furniture and textile manufacturing. With the decline of textile employment late in the century, tourism tied to the city's historic downtown and its Mayberry associations has grown in importance.^[2]

See also[edit]

• Boone
• Nottatown – another town near the Virginia line
• List of North Carolina town articles

References[edit]

1. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 Census of Population and Housing.
2. ^ “Mount Airy.” NCpedia. State Library of North Carolina.
3. ^ Powell, William S. The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
4. ^ Powell, William S., ed. Encyclopedia of North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.