Andy and Opie statue.

Andy and Opie Statues

Mount Airy, North Carolina

Andy and Opie Taylor, the North Carolina father and barefoot son played by Andy Griffith and future director Ronny Howard on The Andy Griffith Show, are immortalized in bronze on their way to their fictional Mayberry fishin' hole. Sheriff Andy is wearing his uniform and badge, apparently still on duty in super-safe Mayberry.

The statue was one of several commissioned by the TV Land network in the early 2000s, honoring characters from classic TV sitcoms of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, including Mary Tyler Moore, Jackie Gleason, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Bob Newhart (But not, contrary to popular belief, The Fonz).

Unfortunately, TV Land goofed and put its Andy and Opie statue in Raleigh, the state capital, rather than in Mount Airy, the town that had inspired Mayberry. When the network later approached Andy Griffith about joining a "Back to Mayberry" cast reunion special, Andy said no thanks -- but he might change his mind if TV Land made a second statue for Mount Airy. Backed into a corner -- the network couldn't have a Mayberry special without sheriff Andy -- TV Land agreed.

Andy attended the statue's dedication on September 24, 2004. It was placed outside the Andy Griffith Playhouse, formerly the Rockford Street Grammar School auditorium where Andy first performed on stage in the 3rd grade. It's now also the site of the Andy Griffith Museum, which opened in 2009.

Abigail Linville, the museum's director of collections, called Andy Griffith's stubborn stand for the statue "a very significant event" in the history of Mount Airy.