2021-06-17: Summer Road Trip to Buy Our "New-to-Us" Home and Geocaching Through Texas, Arkansas and Missouri

Hello Friends! Well some of our regular readers may recall that the primary reason that we are able to go on so many geocaching roadtrip adventures is because we work in construction. We travel from project to project across the country and had to find short term rentals in each town to live in while there working. My wife has been traveling and working with me for about two years now, though this last solar project we just completed near Fort Stockton, Texas she didn't work on it.

When we arrived in the nearby small town of McCamey at the beginning, the choices for rental accommodations were old rundown houses from the 1940's. My wife took one look and decided she'd stay with her daughter in Killeen, TX for the duration. Now that it has completed, I have three weeks before starting at the next location in North Texas. So what to do but go on a roadtrip to Indiana where I found our "new to us" home to buy! Finally after a year of looking... a wish comes true!

 

My last day on the project was a Tuesday. I had packed up everything in the Jeep that morning and I made the 5-hour drive to Killeen after work that evening. On Wednesday, Candy and I packed as much as we could into our little 2-door Jeep for us as well as her teenage grand-daughter who rode along with us on this roadtrip adventure.

So we left Central Texas and our first stop wasn't until Texarkana, Arkansas or is it Texas? Or Arkansas? Actually it IS in both! The courthouse sits right on the state line. Now that's a divided court and was a virtual geocache, now archived (GC829D).

After 450 miles of driving, we stopped at a hotel in South Hot Springs, Arkansas for the night. Waking up Thursday morning and checking out, we grabbed a quick geocache (GC1KGXN) right there in the parking lot before hitting the road.

But not before taking a quick drive into the historical Hot Springs National Park and Bathhouse Row. Hot Springs, Arkansas, gets its name from the naturally 143 °F thermal spring waters found here. Flowing out of the ground at almost one million gallons of water each day. Native Americans called this area “the Valley of the Vapors,” and it was said to have been a neutral territory where all tribes could enjoy its healing waters in peace. Spanish and French settlers claimed the area in the mid-1500s. In fact, famous explorer Hernando de Soto was the first European to visit Hot Springs in 1541.

While it is true that President Grant designated Yellowstone as the first "National Park" in 1872, it can also be said that Hot Springs, Arkansas was technically the first national park when President Andrew Jackson designated Hot Springs a "Federal Reservation" in 1832 for public use. Hot Springs didn't officially become a National Park until 1921.

Bathhouse Row has evolved over the years from it's rustic beginnings to the modern spas of today. In the 1830's, Hot Springs earliest facilities were make shift shelters perches over individual springs. Later elaborate Victorian bathhouses flourished along the avenue. But those wooden structures were susceptible to rot and devastating fires. The present mix of Spanish Mission to neoclassical architecture date from 1911 to 1939, the Golden Age of bathing.

Medicinal bathing peaked in 1946 and many of the traditional bathhouses have closed or converted into the modern spas. Traditional bathing remains at the Buckstaff Bathhouse. The National Park Service has landscaped many of the exercise paths that were considered essential to good health. Like earlier visitors, you can still stroll the brick Grand Promenade behind Bathhouse Row or hike mountain trails throughout the National Park.

Walking among the shops there on the row, I spotted an iconic Zoltar fortune teller machine made famous from the 1988 movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks. Hmmm, what should I wish for?

Also spotted this restored antique Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Not sure about those white tires though!

And then there's this statue standing outside of Diablos Tacos and Mezcal restaurant. Still too early for lunch so just took a photo.

While walking down Bathhouse Row, we did find three geocaches and completed an Adventure Lab. Along with what I've already shared with you, they also highlighted Hot Springs history with Babe Ruth and baseball (GC2ZDMJ), the cemetery (GC3JFJ9, GC92RGD), and Al Capone and organized crime in the 1930's.

Time to get back on the highway heading north. Since I've already gotten the geocached counties along the way from previous trips, I tried to make up some time and skipped a lot of the geocaches I had picked out. Got back to I-30 into Little Rock to US-67 towards the northwest.

When we get to the town of Walnut Ridge, I make a right turn onto US-412 eastbound. It didn't take long before I thought it was a big mistake. CONSTRUCTION TRAFFIC!! My next target cache was still over 40 miles. While waiting for the lane to open back up to proceed, I thought I'd check the nearby geocaches. What do I see but a new geocache hidden on my birthday (June 11), published on the 13th, and STILL yet to be found four days later! I guess it was just waiting for us to pass by! I knew exactly what it was just from name "Dollar Skirt" (GC9CMGQ). Found and stamped the blank log sheet! WOHOO a First-to-Find! Thanks for construction traffic!

Then we crossed over into Dunklin County, Missouri and made a quick roadside geocaching stop for the county (GC3ABN5). Next door in Pemiscot County we found a very large geocache with a LOT of favorite points (GC1REX7) to complete the "heal" of Missouri.

Also in the town of Hayti was this restored one-room schoolhouse. The Hayti school building was built in 1874 and was used until 1895. There was a geocache there too but we couldn't find it, as well as several previous geocachers too. It has since been archived.

Jumping onto I-55 northbound a few miles into New Madrid County, we soon exit into the town of New Madrid, Missouri. There were three geocaches on my to-do list in town to be found. The first one was at the Byrne-Howard Cemetery (GC2M4Q4). The cemetery was established in 1833 with the burial of Morgan Byrne. He was joined by his wife Jane just two years later. This small cemetery has acquired 29 permanent residents between 1933 and 1947.

We also stopped by the Hunter-Dawson State Historical Site (GC47ZVN). William and Amanda Hunter owned a successful dry goods business in New Madrid as well as a floating store selling goods up and down the Mississippi River. They built their antebellum mansion with Georgian, Greek Revival and Italianate features popular during the period. The mansion took nearly a year to build and was completed in May of 1860. Unfortunately William died in 1859 before the house was completed.

In 1874 Ella, the Hunter's youngest daughter, married William Dawson. Upon Amanda's death in 1876 Ella and William moved into the mansion. Dawson served three terms in the Missouri State Legislature. In 1884 he was elected to the US House of Representatives. In addition, he served on the planning committee of the 1898 World's Fair in Chicago.

The home did suffer damage during the Great Flood of 1937. (There is a spot in the house where you can see the water mark on the wall.) Descendants of the Hunter family occupied the home until 1958. In 1966 it was purchased by the city of New Madrid. A year later the city donated the site to the state to use as a state historic site. The home now stands as a testimony to the grand lifestyle of the successful businessman prior to the Civil War.

Speaking of the Civil War, while the Union troops occupied New Madrid, the Confederates controlled passage of the Mississippi River just around the bend upstream on a large island in the middle of the river. This prevented supplies from reaching New Madrid or any Union troops further south. In March of 1862, Colonel Josiah Bissell, commanding the "Engineer Regiment of the West," surveyed land north and east of New Madrid. Bissell found swamps and bottomland inundated with early spring floodwaters and suggested to Brigadier General John Pope cutting a canal from north of the island going west into New Madrid allowing steamboats and other ships to bypass the Confederate forces. Pictured below is a submergible saw used to cut down trees below the waterline allowing boats to maneuver through the thick swamps.

Island #10 in the Mississippi River

Backing up a bit for earlier history, New Madrid was the first American town in Missouri. Founded in 1789 by George Morgan, Princeton graduate and Indian trader, on the site of Francois and Joseph Le Sieur's trading settlement. Named for Madrid, Spain, the town was to be an American colony. Morgan was promised 15 million acres by the Spanish ambassador, eager to stop U.S. expansion with large land grants. In 1800, Spain traded the territory back to France in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. After trying to regain control of Saint-Domingue (the present Haiti), where a slave rebellion was underway, Napoleon gave up on his North American colonies, agreeing to sell this territory to the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

And finally, the New Madrid Earthquake (GC1DRVR), made up of a series of monstrous and lessor shocks, which began December 16, 1811, and continued for over a year. One of the great earthquakes of the world because of severity and length it caused little loss of life in a thinly settled region. Some of the shocks were felt as far of 1100 miles.

So that's it for today. Tomorrow we see a little more of Missouri before getting into Illinois and Indiana.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-24: Turning a 1400 Mile Drive into a 3404 Mile Road Trip! Day 2 in Virginia, DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania

On this Day 2 of our 3400 mile road trip from NC to TX, taking the long route, we geocached our way from Virginia through Maryland, DC, West Virginia, and into Pennsylvania history. Picking up new geocaching counties along the way, we were sightseeing places of Revolutionary and Civil War prominence that included churches, houses, cemeteries and more. So come join us as we travel back in time...

Our first two geocaches were quick urban hides to get credit for the county. In Virginia, there are not only the counties but also some of the larger cities have their own "boundaries" separate from the county. So the first of the geocaches was for Spotsylvania County (GC1FYJ1) and the other just a few blocks away was located within Fredericksburg (GC82XNE).

Our next geocache and county was up the road into Stafford County. It was a old virtual geocache at a piece of Civil War history (GCB1C). This huge stone block base is all that remains of a train bridge which spanned the Potomac Creek. The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad crossing this bridge was a major supply route for Confederate troops along the river. Early 1862, the troops were ordered to abandoned their positions here. The advancing Union troops found the bridge destroyed in an effort to slow them down. In May 1862, engineer Herman Haupt supervised the unskilled Union army soldiers in harvesting two million feet of lumber and reconstructing the bridge in just nine days (see photo at top of page). Over the next three years and continued destruction by the Confederates, the bridge was rebuilt four times using this same foundation. You can see the modern roadway through the trees on the right side.

Our next "county" geocache, one of Virginia's separate townships, was in Falls Church. Just a quick parking lot LPC (light post cache) (GC3XCZE), but it fills in a blank on the county map and keeps us moving forward.

Our next two geocaches are practically in the same spot at the intersecting corners of Arlington County, Fairfax County and Falls Church. Located in a small park in a residential neighborhood is the original 1791 survey stone marking the proposed western corner of the diamond shaped District of Columbia for the newly formed United States Capital. Maryland was donating land NE of the Potomac River, while Virginia was to donate land SW of the river forming the diamond shape. However, Virginia rescinded and we have the current half-diamond configuration of Washington D.C. today. The two geocaches located here are a virtual for the survey marker (GC6781) and a Challenge for finding 300 Virtual caches (GC572WE).

Just a short distance away, and in Fairfax County, is another Virtual geocache at this 9-11 Memorial (GCA072). There are a LOT of virtual caches in and around Washington DC, but we don't have the time at this point to get to them all. So we just try and grab a couple every time we pass through the area.

In an effort to not get too bogged down and spend the entire day in Virginia, I make another quick park & grab parking lot LPC find in Loudoun County (GC3V6QF).

We add Clarke County to our map by picking up a geocache in the County Seat of Berryville (GCXGQF). From the historical marker: "The year after Clarke County was formed in 1836, construction began on a brick courthouse based on county justice David Meade's design. The courthouse was remodeled in the Neoclassical style about 1850 when the portico and copula were added. Portraits of locally prominent judges and lawyers from the 1840's to the present are displayed in the courtroom. The last public hanging in Clarke County occurred here in 1905."

There was much to see around the courthouse square. One of which is this statue erected as a memorial to those Clarke County residents who fought and died during the Civil War defending states rights and the Confederacy.

The other was the Grace Episcopal Church and Graveyard erected in 1832. Do you know what the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? Originally graveyards were burial grounds on church property, whereas cemeteries were land specifically designated for burials. Some very old churches actually have clergy or other very prominent members buried WITHIN the church under the floor. Their flat headstones would be down the isles between the pews.

My next two geocaches are in the Winchester Township. On previous roadtrips through Virginia I had just skipped the small townships, instead just focusing on the larger and rural counties. But I'm gonna have to fill these in on the map sooner or later. Might as well get to working on them.

During the Civil War, the Union and Confederate armies each used the Frederick County Courthouse (GC4XT0K) as a hospital and a prison. The Greek revival style courthouse was completed in 1840. It was the third courthouse constructed on this location. In 1758, the first courthouse was the site of George Washington's first election to office, when voters here elected him a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Though these buildings have not been around that long, Colonel James Wood, a native of Winchester, England, laid out and founded the new Winchester in Virginia prior to 1743. It received a charter of incorporation from the colonial legislature in February 1752. Colonel Wood was the first surveyor of Orange County from which the county of Frederick was carved by an act of the House of Burgesses passed in 1738.

The Taylor Hotel, also our next virtual geocache (GC890KN), was a major stopping point for travelers because of its location on the Valley Turnpike and also was the center of town life. During the Civil War it was the headquarters for several commanders, most notably Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. This is the Taylor Hotel below as it looks today.

Arriving in November 1861, his stay at the hotel was short. Continuing crowds of people eager to meet the famous Stonewall Jackson, he moved a few days later to a private residence of the Lewis T. Moore house, which is now the Stonewall Jackson Headquarters Museum (GC4XT6Y) pictured below. He used this as his headquarters until March 1862 when he left Winchester to begin his Valley Campaign.

Finally exiting Virginia and making our way into West Virginia, our next stop was in the town of Middleway to grab a geocache for Jefferson County (GCM0TN). From the historical marker: Middleway, founded in the late 1700's, flourished as a trading center for most of the 1800's. About 1820, the Lutherans and German Reformed congregations joined together to build this church. Some years elapsed and the building was erected and finally the Presbyterians agreed to bear one third of the cost. Services were alternated, thus the name Union Church.

As the village declined, the Union Church and its cemetery deteriorated. In a more recent act of destruction, vandals smashed tombstones with bats and knocked others askew. The nearby Grace Episcopal Church, built in 1851, (pictured below), having acquired the forsaken property, stepped in and has restored the site to its former dignity.

For Berkeley County, I stop for one of the famous WVTim gadget caches. Since 2012, it has had over 1400 finders and awarded nearly 700 favorite points. Located on the grounds of a fire station, it's made to look like an old fire house. I'm not gonna give you the GC code to this one cause I'm gonna tell you how it works. In order to open the compartment that contains the log sheet, you must first open the compartment which contains a package of balloons. Insert the balloon into tube on the side leaving enough around the tube for you to blow on and inflate the balloon. As the balloon expands on the inside, it opens the door containing the swag and log sheet. A fairly simple gadget cache but fun none the less. Oh and please take your balloon with you as you don't want another cacher to using the same one as you.

Up next in Morgan County, I stopped for a quick guard rail cache (GC4AX47) but still a significant point of history. From this point along the banks of the Upper Potomac River, Stonewall Jackson began shelling Hancock, Maryland from Orrick's Hill, January 5, 1862 after it refused to surrender Jackson's men were able to plunder a large cache of rifles, ammo, and blankets from a supply train that came into Alpine Station. After destroying remaining supplies, the B&O Railway track and the bridge over the Great Cacapon, Jackson marched his army of 8,500 men to Romney and captured it.

Crossing the bridge over into Maryland, we followed the river westbound until we got to that narrow piece of Maryland that separates West Virginia from Pennsylvania. Turning north a few hundred feet into Pennsylvania for our next geocache in PA's Fulton County and a significant piece of survey history. Here is located a stone survey marker for the Mason-Dixon Line (GC2BCKX).

The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. The disputants engaged an expert British team, astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon, to survey what became known as the Mason–Dixon Line. It cost the Calverts of Maryland and the Penns of Pennsylvania £3,512/9 to have 244 miles surveyed with such accuracy. To them the money was well spent, for in a new country there was no other way of establishing ownership.

Mason and Dixon's actual survey line began to the south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and extended from a benchmark east to the Delaware River and west to what was then the boundary with western Virginia. The surveyors also fixed the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania and the approximately north–south portion of the boundary between Delaware and Maryland. Most of the Delaware–Pennsylvania boundary is an arc, and the Delaware–Maryland boundary does not run truly north-south because it was intended to bisect the Delmarva Peninsula rather than follow a meridian.

And finally our last geocache of the day was a virtual (GCED74) at the Sideling Hill Welcome Center on I-68. The Interstate 68 highway through Maryland is also known as the National Freeway. It runs parallel to US-40 and the original National Road which was built in the 1800's. I'll talk more about the National Road more next week when we visit some of the remnants along the way including the first toll booth in the United States.

That's it for today. To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-05: Touring the Mississippi Gulf Coast for History and Lighthouses

Finishing up the eastbound segment of our huge looping roadtrip around the east half of the United States, we followed the Mississippi Gulf Coast to check out some lighthouses and other historical sites. Obviously picking up some geocaches along the way too. So join us as we exit the Interstate, drop down to the backroads highway of US-90, and let's see what (and who) we found...

Our first geocaching stop was for a virtual geocache (GCED4C) at the statue of French explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne. Born in Montreal, New France (now Canada) in 1680, he landed and explored this area of Bay St Louis, MS in 1699. He was appointed governor of French Louisiana several times  in the early 1700's. Also known as Sieur de Bienville, he died while in Paris, France in 1767.

Moving along to Gulfport, MS, we come to our first lighthouse. Ship Island is located out in the Gulf of Mexico, about 12 miles south of Gulfport. The island got its name because it was often used by early explorers and larger ships to anchor, sending smaller boats navigating the shallower waters to the mainland. With the efforts of Congressman, and later as Senator, Jefferson Davis in the 1840's, Ship Island finally got its first lighthouse built in 1853. It was a 45-foot round tower made of brick.

In 1861, Confederate soldiers abandoned the fort and lighthouse on the island and returned to the mainland. They set the structures on fire to make it more difficult for Union troops to use the lighthouse to aid in navigating the waters. However, Union forces occupied the island before long and had the lighthouse operational once again by late 1862. In 1886, the brick lighthouse was considered unsafe and a square wooden lighthouse was constructed later that year. The lighthouse continued operating by the U.S. Coast Guard until 1957.

In 1959, a private use permit was granted to Philip Duvic who renovated the bottom floor to a kitchen and bathroom, second floor into women's quarters, third floor into a men's dorm, and the top floor a honeymoon suite. He eventually purchased the lighthouse in 1965 when the Coast Guard put lighthouses up for sale.

In 1969, Hurricane Camille severely damaged the wooden structure. And in June 1972, two campers lit a campfire too close for the windy conditions and caught the lighthouse on fire, completely destroying it. In 1999, a replica lighthouse was built on the island but destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. And finally, another replica (pictured) was built in 2011, but not on Ship Island. This time right on US-90 in Gulfport making it more accessible to tourists.

I also grabbed the geocache near the lighthouse (GC6ZKCN) before driving off to the next location.

Further east down the beach and a block off of US-90, you'll find this red-brick building and our next virtual geocache (GCD69F). The Mississippi City Courthouse building was originally constructed in 1893 as part of the Harrison County Clerks office, the "Old Courthouse." It was the last remaining structure associated with a complex of courthouse buildings in Mississippi City, which served as the county seat from 1841 until 1902. After that the county seat was moved to Gulfport. The original building was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This replica you now see was constructed in 2009.

Moving on over to Biloxi, we come to one of the lessor known lighthouses on the Gulf Coast. Constructed in 1965 as part of the Broadwater Beach Resort, the resort was destroyed by Hurricane Camille in 1969. Rebuilt as the President Casino in 1992, it too was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. This is all that remains. Even the geocache hidden near the base tends to disappear often and I had to DNF that one (GC6DTPB).

The Biloxi Lighthouse (GC7B8V6) was one of three Mississippi Sound lighthouses authorized in 1847 by legislation sponsored by Mississippi Representative Jefferson Davis. The Biloxi Lighthouse was erected in 1848 and was one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South. It has survived two of the deadliest hurricanes in Gulf Coast history, Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005. Katrina’s record-breaking storm surge crested at 27.8 feet above mean sea level. It destroyed nearly the entire city, but the lighthouse remained standing.

One of the features of this lighthouse is that it contains a webcam. You can login to the live feed from your smartphone to take that unique selfie as if you were both on the ground and up inside the lighthouse. Yep, that's me down in the lower left corner by the light post.

Our final stop was in Ocean Springs, MS for another virtual geocache (GCEC3D) at the Mississippi Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.

Making our way back to Interstate 10, yeah I know it sounds boring, but we have to get to Central Florida. We spent the following day with family and the next morning saying my last goodbye at my father's funeral. After the funeral we had to get back on the road up to North Carolina where we return to the Maiden Creek solar project for a couple weeks of touch up work. Then we head back to Texas for the next project. But we'll be taking the LOOOONG WAY back via the northern route! So be sure to check back in soon. Until next time...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-06-20: Taking a Trip Back to Mayberry and Andy Griffith's Hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina

Welcome back friends, family, fellow traveler's, Geocachers, Jeepers, RV'ers, and ALL of you who've stopped by our AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventures Blog. We're a couple of work travelers in construction and our job takes us all over the country. Currently, we're on a project in Central North Carolina near the town of Maiden.

Today was a great day to take a roadtrip back to Mayberry (GCJF95). Many say that "The Andy Griffith Show" was based on Mount Airy, NC, Andy's birthplace. So let's go for a drive and see what they've done to the town.

Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Galax, Virginia. It was named for a nearby plantation. Mount Airy was incorporated in 1885. The City's official seal was established in 1977, which depicts major industries that are home to Mount Airy including: furniture, textiles, and the granite quarry. In 1994, Mount Airy was named an All American City.

The Andy Griffith Show aired eight seasons on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968. The series originated partly from a prior episode of The Danny Thomas Show. The show stars Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor, the widowed sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional community loosely based on Mount Airy. Other major characters include Andy's cousin, the well-meaning and enthusiastic deputy, Barney Fife; Andy's aunt and housekeeper, Bee Taylor; and Andy's young son, Opie. Griffith said that the show evoked nostalgia, saying though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was, when we were doing it, of a time gone by."

Griffith was born on June 1, 1926, in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the only child of Carl Lee Griffith and his wife, Geneva. As a baby, Griffith lived with relatives until his parents could afford to buy a home. With neither a crib nor a bed, he slept in dresser drawers for several months. In 1929, when Griffith was three, his father began working as a helper or carpenter and purchased the home pictured below in Mount Airy's "blue-collar" south side. Griffith grew up listening to music. By the time he entered school, he was well aware that he was from what many considered the "wrong side of the tracks". He was a shy student, but once he found a way to make his peers laugh, he began to come out of his shell and come into his own.

The Mayberry Courthouse is a replica of the courthouse that appeared in “The Andy Griffith Show” during the 1960s. Situated adjacent to Wally’s Service Station, visitors can sit behind Andy’s desk, type on the vintage typewriter, and even sit in the recreated jail cells that appeared in the show.

Remember Sheriff Taylor’s police car? The one you saw in every episode? In Mount Airy, you can tour all of the sites in a Mayberry squad car. Each tour starts at Wally’s Service Station, then it will travel up and down the streets of Mount Airy. Wally’s Service Station is an original service station built in 1937 and operated as a Gulf Station and then later operated as a Standard Oil Station or Esso.

As a student at Mayberry Union High (Mount Airy High School), Griffith cultivated an interest in the arts, and he participated in the school's drama program. A growing love of music, particularly swing, would change his life. Griffith was raised Baptist and looked up to Ed Mickey, a minister at Grace Moravian Church, who led the brass band and taught him to sing and play the trombone. Mickey nurtured Griffith's talent throughout high school until graduation in 1944.

The Darlings (usually pronounced "Darlin's") lived in a mountain shack, like the one below behind Wally's Garage, somewhere in the mountains neighboring Mayberry. The good-natured, but trouble-making Appalachian clan, led by patriarch Briscoe Darling (played by Denver Pyle) usually came into town piled into the back of their old truck.

Though Methodists had been present in Surry County since the 18th century along with Baptists, Moravians, Quakers, and other religious groups, the original Methodist church in town was established only in 1831. The “Old Methodist” cemetery belonged to Mount Airy’s Methodist Episcopal Church, South, after part of the 1831 Lebanon congregation moved to a new location on South Main Street in 1858. The cemetery and church were built on land donated from Elisha Banner’s plantation, and the earliest burial dates back to 1857.

Local tradition says that the church’s bell, now housed in Trinity Episcopal’s belfry, tolled during funerals for every year of the deceased’s life. The cemetery acted as a town cemetery, not just for one for Methodists, and it was replaced by Oakdale Cemetery in 1892 when space began to run out. The church changed its name to Central United Methodist Church when it moved closer to the center of town in the 1890s, and the last burials at the Old Methodist Cemetery (GC4NZNT) were made around the turn of the century.

Leaving Mayberry, we drove down the highway on the way back but not before hiking Mount Pilot. Pilot Mountain was the inspiration for the fictional town of Mount Pilot in “The Andy Griffith Show.” Nearby the actual town is Pilot Mount State Park (GC88Z1Y) which is known for its Big Pinnacle peak seen for several miles. It was a nice short hike over to the observation deck where I got this great wide angle photo.

That was our return to Mayberry. It's one of those must visit towns if you're a fan of the of the TV show.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.