Mount Airy is a city in
Surry CountySurry County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 73,673. Its county seat is Dobson.- History :The county was formed in 1771 from Rowan County...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,388.
History
Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a
stagecoachA stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
stop on the road between
Winston-SalemWinston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
and
GalaxGalax is an independent city in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is bounded to the northeast by Carroll County and to the southwest by Grayson County. The population was 7,042 as of 2010...
,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. It was named for a nearby plantation. Mount Airy was incorporated in 1885.
Geography
Mount Airy is located at 36°30′3"N 80°36′34"W (36.500756, -80.609311), along the
Ararat RiverThe Ararat River is a tributary of the Yadkin River in southwestern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina in the United States. Via the Yadkin it is part of the watershed of the Pee Dee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean....
. The
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
says the city has a total area of 8.4 square miles (21.8 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the
censusA census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 8,484 people, 3,667 households, and 2,130 families residing in the city. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,010.8 people per square mile (390.4/km²). There were 4,129 housing units at an average density of 491.9 per square mile (190.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.34%
WhiteWhite Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
descent, 7.99%
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, 0.35%
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, 2.55%
Asian AmericanAsian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
, 0.05%
Pacific IslanderPacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
, 2.49% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.24% from two or more races.
HispanicHispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
or
LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
of any race were 5.87% of the population.
There were 3,667 households out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 14.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-families. 38.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 25.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 84.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,910, and the median income for a family was $33,412. Males had a median income of $27,299 versus $24,830 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $17,237. About 17.4% of families and 19.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.7% of those under age 18 and 20.7% of those age 65 or over.
Mayberry
Mount Airy was the birthplace and childhood home of American actor
Andy GriffithAndy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
, and is widely believed to be the inspiration for the fictional community
MayberryMayberry is a fictional community in North Carolina that was the setting for two American television sitcoms, The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. Mayberry was also the setting for a 1986 reunion television movie titled Return to Mayberry...
, the setting of
The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
and its sequel,
Mayberry RFD. Until he returned to Mount Airy, 45 years after the show, Griffith denied the connection. Several locations and names mentioned in both shows reflect real places and people in or near Mount Airy, including Mount Pilot (nearby
Pilot MountainPilot Mountain, a metamorphic quartzite monadnock rising to a peak above sea level, is one of the most distinctive natural features in the state of North Carolina. It is a remnant of the ancient chain of Sauratown Mountains. The Saura were the earliest known inhabitants of the region...
and the
town named for itPilot Mountain is a town in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,477 at the 2010 census. It is named for the nearby landmark of Pilot Mountain, a distinctive geological formation...
) and Snappy Lunch, a restaurant which still operates in the city's downtown area and is famous for its
pork chopA pork chop is a cut of pork cut perpendicularly to the spine of the pig and usually containing a rib or part of a vertebra, served as an individual portion.-Variations:...
sandwich. In episode #154 of the Andy Griffith Show, "Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau" Andy is clearly seen in close-up reading what could be a Mount Airy newspaper. All that is visible are the words "Airy News". This could be another connection between Mount Airy and Mayberry.
The community holds an annual "Mayberry Days" celebration during the last weekend of September; 30,000 attended in 2009, and 50,000 were expected for the show's 50th anniversary in 2010. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro estimates the town receives $5 million each year as a result.
Three
Ford GalaxieThe Ford Galaxie was a full-size car built in the United States by the Ford Motor Company for model years 1959 through 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford’s full-size range from 1959 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race...
police carA police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
s, painted to resemble those used on the show, give rides to tourists. A barber shop has been named "
Floyd'sFloyd Lawson was a fictional character on the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, which was inspired by a real barber in Andy Griffith's real-life hometown of Mt. Airy, North Carolina named Russell Hiatt who actually cut Andy Griffith's hair on a regular basis while Andy was young and living...
", and a salvage yard has the name Mayberry. One of the attractions is the Andy Griffith Museum, which attracts 200 visitors a day.
Bluegrass and Old-Time music
The home of
old-time musicOld-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
legend
Tommy JarrellTommy Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.-Biography:...
and
country singerCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
Donna FargoDonna Fargo is an American country music singer-songwriter, who is best-known for a series of Top 10 country hits in the 1970s...
, Mount Airy has a long history with regional music. Mount Airy's
WPAQ 740
AM radioAM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
is one of the few Bluegrass and Old-Time music stations still operating and has been airing the live radio show Merry-Go-Round from the Downtown Cinema Theatre since 1948. Weekly bluegrass
jam sessionJam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
s at The Andy Griffith Playhouse and the annual
Mount Airy Fiddlers ConventionThe Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention is a popular festival devoted to old-time and bluegrass music, as well as related arts such as dance, which takes place each summer at Veterans Memorial Park in Mount Airy, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1972. It is held on the first weekend...
also serve to attract old-time musicians from across the region and the world. The
Blue Ridge Music CenterThe Blue Ridge Music Center is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway system and is located at Milepost 213 near Galax, Virginia. The center celebrates the history and performance of old time mountain music of Virginia and North Carolina and is largely concerned with local artists who best show this...
with its amphitheater and music museum of old-time music is just a few miles away on the
Blue Ridge ParkwayThe Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
at Milepost 213, near
Galax, VirginiaGalax is an independent city in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is bounded to the northeast by Carroll County and to the southwest by Grayson County. The population was 7,042 as of 2010...
.
Chang and Eng Bunker
Mount Airy was also the home of the famous
Siamese TwinsConjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of...
,
Chang and Eng BunkerChang and Eng Bunker were the conjoined twin brothers whose condition and birthplace became the basis for the term "Siamese twins".-Life:...
(1811–1874), joined by a band of cartilage at the chest (xiphopagus). After retiring from the circus of P.T. Barnum, they married sisters and purchased two adjoining farm properties just west of Mount Airy in the community of
White PlainsWhite Plains is a census-designated place in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,049 at the 2000 census.- Geography :White Plains is located at ....
. They alternated spending three days at a time at the two farms. Between them they had at least 21 children and owned slaves. Some of their children fought for the
ConfederacyThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Many of their descendants still live in the Mount Airy area. "The Wedding of the Siamese Twins" by Burton Cohen, a play detailing the salacious and often amusing lives of Chang and Eng Bunker, is scheduled to be performed annually at the Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mount Airy. On the last week-end in July there is a family reunion held at the First Baptist Church at 714 N. Main St.. There are several other activities and functions throughout the week-end.
William Alfred Moore House
The William Alfred Moore house, built in 1860, is the earliest known structure still standing in Mount Airy. The house is known for its Italianate and Victorian exterior and Greek revival interior. In the front yard stands a rare (c.1865) hexagonal gazebo made of wood poles and intervening laurel root walls. The Moore house is owned by the Mount Airy Restoration Foundation.
http://www.visitmayberry.com/detailsnorthcarolina.asp?BusinessID=276&BusinessCategoryID=88
Notable people
- Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
(1926- ), American actor
- Chang and Eng Bunker
Chang and Eng Bunker were the conjoined twin brothers whose condition and birthplace became the basis for the term "Siamese twins".-Life:...
(1811–1874), famous Siamese twins
- Jack Childress (1950- ), American college football official
- Chubby Dean
Alfred Lovell "Chubby" Dean was a Major League Baseball pitcher and first baseman. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1936 to 1941 and the Cleveland Indians from 1941 to 1943....
(1916–1970), Major League Baseball player
- Ron Blackburn
Ronald Hamilton Blackburn "Blackie" was a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1958 and 1959 seasons after playing minor league ball. His major league debut was on Opening Day 1958 against the Milwaukee Braves. The first batter he pitched...
(1935–1998), Major League Baseball player
- Ben Callahan
Benjamin Franklin Callahan was a Major League Baseball pitcher. The right-hander was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 31st round of the 1980 amateur draft, then traded to the Oakland Athletics on June 15, 1983...
(1957–2007), Major League Baseball player
- Mark Daniel Merritt
Mark Daniel Merritt is an American composer and arranger with published choral works mostly for church choirs. Merritt's recent commissions, include a commission in 2007 partially funded by the Kentucky Arts Council, to compose the score to the musical River Dreams, which had its world premiere...
(1961- ), American music composer
- Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo is an American country music singer-songwriter, who is best-known for a series of Top 10 country hits in the 1970s...
(1945- ), country music singer and songwriter, best known for the "The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA"
- Benton Flippen
James Benton Flippen was an old-time fiddler from Mount Airy, North Carolina. He was one of the last surviving members of a generation of performers born in the early 20th century playing in the Round Peak style centering on Surry County, North Carolina...
, (1920-2011), old-time fiddler
- Frank Beamer
Frank Beamer is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , a position he has held since 1987. From 1981 to 1986, Beamer served as the head coach at Murray State University...
(1946- ), American college football coach
- Alex Sink
Adelaide "Alex" Sink is an American politician of the Democratic Party. Sink was the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida and treasurer on the board of trustees of the Florida State Board of Administration...
(1948- ), Florida politician
External links