Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2014 - 53

and features displays of antique toys that are not for
sale - only to see, says Rebecca Adams Fry, who runs
the Valle Crucis store's tiny post office. Fry adds, "So
many people come in and say, 'Oh, this reminds me
of my grandfather's store.'"
Mayberry Charms
Stepping into Mount Airy, N.C., is like turning your
vision to black-and-white sepia tones. This is the
hometown of the late, great Andy Griffith and served
as primary inspiration for the fictional Mayberry,
N.C., as seen in the 1960s on "The Andy Griffith
Show."
"Much of the town still feels like it is back in the
'60s," says Melvin Miles of Mount Airy. "And it's still
back in the era of when Andy was living here and
growing up because the show has kept it back like
that."
Miles tells all as a lively narrator of the Mayberry
Squad Car tours, which employs a fleet of Fords
resembling the police cars seen on the show. Such
treks cruise past the real-life Snappy Lunch and the
old-fashioned concoctions of Walker's Soda
Fountain, where owner David Jones stands most
appropriately dressed in black and white, with a red
bowtie, serving sodas.
You can stay overnight at the Mayberry Motor
Inn, nicknamed "Mayberry Hotel." Pose beside an
"Emmetts Fix-It Shop" truck and yet another vintage
squad car. Then browse a room of collectibles dedicated to Frances Bavier, who portrayed the show's
Aunt Bee.
In Mount Airy, you can even find Barney Fife's
girlfriend, Thelma Lou: Actress Betty Lynn lives in
town and makes regular appearances at the town's
Andy Griffith Museum. "A lot goes on here that
maybe isn't exactly like Mayberry," Lynn says. "But
I think it has a sweetness about it. And, it's such a
pretty town."
Walton's Mountain
Walking into the Walton's Mountain Museum,
in Schuyler, Va., I fully figured folks would be flocking for the '40s - or, even, wanting to relive the Great
Depression by recalling simpler days, when everyone
gathered for communal meals, and there was no telephone of any kind in the house.
This museum stands about a stone's throw from
the house where "The Waltons" (1972-'81) show
creator Earl Hamner Jr. grew up. "And it brings them
back in time," says the museum's shopkeeper, Patrick
O'Brien. "A lot of people wish they were living back
with 'The Waltons.' They wish it was peaceful. They
wish they had parents like Olivia and John and wish
they had brothers like The Waltons."

O'Brien slips around the museum's gift shop like
the character of Ike Godsey, the show's shopkeeper,
wearing an apron and answering questions about the
rural Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Yet, it is not
necessarily the 1930s or '40s that interests visitors:
Mary Ellen Honeywell, of Cortland, N.Y., says
perusing the museum was "like going back to the
'70s."
Dollywood's Jukebox Junction
Coming to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., my
mother gushed at the name "Cas Walker" on a souvenir shop in the theme park's Jukebox Junction section. Now, keep in mind that Mom is a gal from
nearby Greeneville, Tenn., plus a product of the
Class of '57. Mom's 70-something generation easily
recalls Walker - a real-life storeowner, politician and
television personality whose name is celebrated at
Jukebox Junction, Dollywood's 1950s-themed
section.
Here, you'll occasionally see attendees of the
Rockin' Roadway wearing poodle skirts and ponytails. You can also have a hamburger at the retro-ish
Red's Drive-In. Just as Walker was real, so was Red
Clevinger, who ran the real Red's, a hole-in-the-wall
eatery in nearby Sevierville that was actually called
Red's Café. There, remembers 76-year-old Jim
Franklin, Clevinger "made the best blame
hamburgers."
At 15, Jim Franklin became an usher at the old
Pines Theatre in Sevierville during the 1950s - and,
until recently, served as an usher at the pretend-Pines
of Jukebox Junction. This retro-part of the park,
Franklin says, is a wonderful flashback and "is basically downtown Sevierville, when I was growing up."

Opposite Page:
1. The malts rock at the
Barbara Fritchie
Restaurant in Frederick,
Md.
2. David Jones serves it
up at Walker's Soda
Fountain in Mt. Airy, N.C.
3. The cherry's on top at
the Hot Rod '50s Diner in
Alcoa, Tenn.
4. Rockin' Roadway is at
Dollywood in Pigeon
Forge, Tenn.
5. Ren Bell works the bar
at Northgate Soda
Shop in Greenville, S.C.

Going Retro in the High Country
Keeping it old-school is one of the big lures to
Tweetsie Railroad, the cowboy-and-railroad-themed
park of Blowing Rock, N.C., sitting on a hill since
1957. Yet this park is only one piece in a potpourri
of the past across North Carolina's High Country.
Come explore the Dan'l Boone Inn, open since
1959 in Boone with all-you-can-eat servings of ham,
beans and fried chicken served by waiters and waitresses who are dressed like they belong at a squaredance. Nearby, you can spend summer evenings
under the stars watching the local stars of "Horn in
the West," an outdoor drama launched in the 1950s
and based on the story of settling the mountains of
North Carolina. Some nights, too, says actor Darrell
King, you can even eat food catered by the Dan'l
Boone Inn. "And you can't get more retro than having fried chicken and country ham under the mountain air, getting ready to see the show that night. 
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 | 53

Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2014