Town file
Mount Airy, North Carolina
Mount Airy, North Carolina (Surry County, North Carolina) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 258, "Mayberry: Chopped & Posed" (13 January 2022). Kenneth Wayne Arnder was eighteen in the summer of 1978.
- Town
- Mount Airy
- County
- Surry County
- State
- North Carolina
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 258
- Approximate location
- 36.508, -80.615
Episode 258 / 13 January 2022 / 175 min / full
Mayberry: Chopped & Posed
"We are going all the way to North Carolina. Here we are to Mount Airy, North Carolina. This is in Surrey County." about 0:04:56
The case: Murder of Kenneth Wayne Arnder (July 1978); Murder of Ronnie Tate (July 1979). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 10,175
- Median age
- older than normal
- Median household income
- $37,194
- Median home value
- $127,400
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $686
- Cost of living
- $76
- Religious
- about 54%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost double
- Violent crime
- ▲ about 15% high
History, in brief
- Settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem and Galax, Virginia. about 0:07:56
- Named Mount Airy after a nearby plantation. about 0:08:21
- Incorporated in 1885. about 0:08:28
- The granite quarry began large-scale production immediately after incorporation. about 0:08:34
- The first furniture factory opened in 1895. about 0:08:38
- The town was built on furniture and tobacco, with granite quarrying as well. about 0:08:46
- Andy Griffith was born in Mount Airy and based Mayberry on the town. about 0:09:03
- The annual Mayberry Days festival drew 50,000 people in 2009 for the show's 50th anniversary. about 0:09:11
- Mayberry Days is estimated to bring about $5 million a year into the town. about 0:09:31
- In 2012 Karen Knotts attended in place of her father Don Knotts. about 0:10:08
- The town has old Ford Galaxie police cars painted like Mayberry that visitors can ride in. about 0:10:29
- There is a Floyd's Barbershop in the town. about 0:10:56
- The town's nicknames are Granite City and Mayberry, and it has no motto. about 0:07:30
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A small town where everyone knows everyone; drama can start quickly and you might lose a couple of friends. Nothing beats Friday night lights at Wallace Shelton Stadium, with the scoreboard sound radiating through town; Chili's after each football game is a must and too many people go to Cookout."about 0:11:05
2 stars
"Not happy with Mayberry at all: crooked cops, covered-up overdoses and thievery on a regular basis. No locals eat on Main Street because the food is no good and too expensive, there is nothing for younger people, and it would be a good retirement place if they wiped out the cops and drug dealers on payrolls. Welcome to Mount Airy, where Andy Griffith hated it."about 0:11:46
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Clemmons, North Carolina35 miles
- Collinsville, Virginia42 miles
- Wallburg, North Carolina42 miles
- Radford, Virginia42 miles
- Summerfield, North Carolina45 miles
- High Point, North Carolina50 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.