Outside of the Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, North Carolina — the town that inspired the fictional town of Mayberry — there’s a statue of two main characters from The Andy Griffith Show, (a popular television program that ran on CBS in the 1960s). The Andy Griffith Statue in Mount Airy features bronze likenesses of the characters Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and his son Opie Taylor (Ron Howard).
The bronze statueof the classic TV characters was donated by TV Land, a station known for it’s nostalgic programming and old-time reruns, in 2004. Dubbed “Goin’ Fishin’,” it depicts a fishing scene from the show’s opening credits. The Mayberry Andy Griffith statue is a copy of the original that was placed in the state’s capital of Raleigh.
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In front of the North Carolina roadside attraction is a plaque with the inscription: A simpler time. A sweeter place. A lesson. A laugh. A father and a son.
The Andy and Opie statue is one of several sculptures of characters and actors from classic television series that the television station TV Land has commissioned as TV Land Landmarks since the early 2000s.
Other classic TV character statues from TV Land include:
Bob Newhart as Dr. Robert Hartley from The Bob Newhart Show (Navy Pier, Chicago)
Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners (Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York City)
Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens from Bewitched (Lappin Park, Salem, Massachusetts)
Elvis Presley from Aloha from Hawaii (Neal Blaisdell Center Arena, Honolulu)
Henry Winkler as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli from Happy Days – AKA the “Bronze Fonz” (Milwaukee Riverwalk, Milwaukee)
Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards from The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Mayberry Andy Griffith Statue in Mount Airy
Location: 218 Rockford St., Mount Airy NC
Hours: Always visible.
Cost: Free to see.
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