Can you hear the whistle? The opening to The Andy Griffith Show is memorialized in Mount Airy with a bronze statue of Andy and Opie Taylor. Right: Open since 1923, Snappy Lunch is said to be the only existing Mount Airy business mentioned on the show. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel
For fans of The Andy Griffith Show, visiting Mount Airy is like stepping inside the 1960s television town of Mayberry. Guests can sleep at Griffith’s childhood home; dine at Snappy Lunch, where the star frequently ate; or visit Floyd’s City Barber Shop, once owned by the late Russell Hiatt, who inspired the character Floyd the Barber. In September, the town hosts Mayberry Days, a festival celebrating the show and its feel-good focus.
Clockwise from right: The copper-and-steel Great Raleigh Acorn; a soaring white oak at Carl Alwin Schenck Memorial Forest; the Shimmer Wall on the Raleigh Convention Center. photograph by ©Raleigh Convention Center/visitRaleigh.com, Liz Condo, Joshua Steadman
Seemingly around each corner, oak trees have been a part of Raleigh’s landscape since long before the city was established on New Year’s Eve 1792. For its bicentennial, artist David Benson created the Great Raleigh Acorn, a 1,200-pound copper acorn that’s dropped at midnight on Raleigh’s birthday and adorns City Plaza throughout the year. One block west, artist Thomas Sayre’s 210-foot-wide, 44-foot-tall Shimmer Wall features nearly 80,000 aluminum panels that depict an oak tree and quiver in the wind. Nearby Moore Square, a four-acre green space that was one of downtown’s original five squares, is framed with towering oaks. And just east of downtown, historic Oakwood, the largest intact 19th-century residential neighborhood in the state, honors the mighty moniker.
Clockwise, from left: The Old Bull Building; Wool E. Bull; American Tobacco Campus; vintage advertisements for Genuine Durham Smoking Tobacco. photograph by Brian Gomsak; Wool E. Bull Photo by Kelly Teseny/Durham Bulls; Collection of Stanford University (tobacco.stanford.edu); Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
It all started with a little bag of tobacco in Durham. In the late 19th century, the Blackwell Tobacco Company began selling “Bull” Durham Tobacco. In 1913, the city’s minor league baseball team — formerly known as the Tobacconists — played its first game as the Bulls. Eighty-some years later, Durham Bulls Athletic Park was built. Next door to the stadium on the American Tobacco Campus, the neon Old Bull sign glows each night, a can’t-miss reminder of the Bull’s beginnings.
Where We Met depicts the rail lines that passed through the Gate City in the late 1800s. Passengers can still ride Greensboroʼs railways at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot (left). photograph by Stacey Van Berkel
Thirty-five miles of colorful fibers dance in the breeze above Greensboro’s LeBauer Park. Janet Echelman’s aerial sculpture, Where We Met, is one of the largest art installations in the Southeast, and represents an 1896 map of rail lines that stretched out from Greensboro. At that time, the city was a railway hub, making it a portal to the West and South. In 1927, the Southern Railway Passenger Station was built with a Beaux-Arts facade, Ionic columns, and a vaulted ceiling, and nearly a decade later 42 passenger trains a day passed through the station. In 2005, it was restored and rechristened the J. Douglas Galyon Depot, where passengers board buses and trains daily, seeing firsthand why Greensboro is a gateway for many.
A downtown fixture, Thomasvilleʼs Big Chair (right) is actually the second to stand there. The first, a wooden structure, fell into disrepair in the 1930s. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel, Brittany Butterworth, Courtesy of Visit Thomasville
By 1879, David Stephen Westmoreland had built North Carolina’s first chair factory in Thomasville. When it burned down nearly two decades later, several other chair factories, and eventually factories producing other types of furniture, sprang up in its place. Thomasville remained a major source for furniture until the last plant closed in 2014. But the Chair City nickname still fits, thanks to a 30-foot concrete replica of a Duncan Phyfe armchair that was installed on West Main Street in the early 1950s to commemorate the city’s furniture history.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company factories (bottom right, in 1948) once employed many in the Camel City, where the R.J. Reynolds Building (bottom left) and Reynolda House Museum of American Art (top) still stand. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel; Historical Photo: Copyrighted image from the News & Observer, courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina
In Winston-Salem, the earthy scent of tobacco once filled the air as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company packed its popular brand of Camel cigarettes. Reminders of the manufacturer’s heyday remain in the city today: the 1929 Art Deco-style Reynolds Building, a template for the Empire State Building and the tallest structure in the state until 1966; and Reynolda House, the former estate of Katharine Smith and R.J. Reynolds, now an acclaimed art museum with gardens and greenhouses.
Uptown Charlotte (pictured from First Ward Park, left) is the historic core of the Queen City, which was named for Queen Charlotte, whose likeness welcomes travelers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Photography courtesy of VisitNC.com, Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Before Charlotte was chartered in 1768, settlers dubbed the area “Charlottetowne” in honor of Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III. Today, the metropolis is known as the Queen City. Although the queen never visited, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system houses one of her handwritten letters — its pages yellowed with time — and sculptures of her stand at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and on North College Street.
As the home of many NASCAR teams and drivers, as well as racing technology manufacturers, Mooresville has come to be called Race City USA. Among the many themed attractions in the Iredell County community is its North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, which zips visitors through the state’s evolution of motorsports. The Hall of Fame features 43 stock cars and drag racers plus a theater that replays the revving engines and squealing tires in some of racing’s most historic moments.
Vintage bottles recall the nickname that Gastonia earned from the labor of workers at Loray (top left) and other mills. The 1902 mill was transformed into a multi-use hub in downtown Gastonia, now called Loray Mill Lofts (bottom left). photograph by Matt Hulsman; Tim Robison; Historical Photo Courtesy of Gaston Gazette
The Charlotte News began referring to Gastonia as the “South’s City of Spindles” in 1916. Other newspapers caught on, and eventually the nickname was shortened to “Spindle City.” By the mid-1920s, Gastonia, with more than 570,000 spindles in textile mills across town, was the largest recorded producer of combed cotton yarn in the world. Kent Hester, a museum guide for Gaston County Museum of Art and History, says this left the city with an enduring reputation. “That’s how they measured which towns produced the most textiles,” he explains, “by the number of spindles that you had.”
Dogwoods dot the historic area of Fayetteville, where they adorn the 1897 Poe House (right), which is open for tours. photograph by Faith Teasley
Springtime in Fayetteville finds clouds of dogwood blossoms along the streets of the city’s historic district. Mayor Bill Hurley declared Fayetteville the City of Dogwoods in 1982, and the first Dogwood Festival commenced. The family-focused event, happening April 25 to 27 this year, attracts locals and visitors to Festival Park and downtown Fayetteville.
Explore Wilmington Riverwalk (left) to spot the Port Cityʼs retired Battleship North Carolina. photograph by Matt Ray Photography; VisitNC.com
Wilmington’s harbor and proximity to the glistening Cape Fear River have long defined it as the Port City. In the 18th century, manufactured goods were imported and naval stores were exported here, while settlers transported goods down the river. During the Civil War, thanks to Fort Fisher’s protection, Wilmington was the Confederacy’s last Atlantic port to remain open to trade. In World War II, the city experienced a shipbuilding boom. Today, the city is best known for one ship: The Battleship North Carolina gives visitors a glimpse into the daily life of a Navy crew of the Greatest Generation. Across the Cape Fear from the battleship, the nearly two-mile Wilmington Riverwalk features boutiques, restaurants, and an outdoor concert venue.
Barry Keyes, and Dan Smith (behind Keyes) extend roses to visiting boaters at the Harbor of Hospitality. photograph by Chris Rogers, Baxter Miller
One Sunday in 1983, after leaving a service at First United Methodist Church in Elizabeth City, Fred Fearing and Joe Kramer decided to walk to the wharf and host a wine and cheese party for the boaters docked there from out of town. Kramer clipped roses from his bushes and presented the fragrant blooms to the women on board. The gathering went so well that the pair — dubbed the “Rose Buddies” — continued to greet boaters with flowers and wine. Other volunteers later joined, and gave tours sharing local history and lore. Word of the Rose Buddies spread worldwide, and Elizabeth City was soon known as the Harbor of Hospitality. Today, David Fynn, Dan Smith, and Barry Keyes carry on the rosy tradition of greeting vessels at the waterfront.
This story was published on Mar 28, 2025
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