The Trip: Days 10 & 11
Day 10
St. Augustine, Florida to Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
Day 11
Mt. Airy, North Carolina to Fairfax County, Virginia.
The trip from St. Augustine to Mt. Airy was fairly typical. I had the dubious pleasure of driving through Georgia...apparently in Georgia the speed limit is merely a suggestion, either that or people don't understand the concept. At any rate, I was quite happy to let someone else take over once we hit the visitors center on the South Carolina border. I have since been informed that I should "go with the flow" and drive like everybody else "when in Rome." I have a few issues with that, but suppose it's not a bad idea from a purely sanity-saving point of view.
Anyway, the trip north was otherwise uneventful and we arrived in Mt. Airy and managed to find our lodgings without too much difficulty. We were only staying one night, so we drove around a bit and then found a great Mexican restaurant called Chili Rojo. Very good, highly recommend.
Now, you might be wondering what we were doing in Mt. Airy...I bet most of you have never even heard of it...or, perhaps you've heard of it by its other name - Mayberry. Yes, that's right, Mt. Airy, North Carolina is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the location for the Andy Griffith show. His house has been turned into a museum and there are loads of references to both Andy and the show. But that's not why we were there.
My 4th great grandparents, Benjamin and Nancy Taylor are buried, along with several of their children, in Mt. Airy. That's where they ended up after moving from...somewhere...in Virginia (there is conflicting information about just where they lived while in Virginia). From there, their son Thomas and his wife Mary (my 3rd great grandparents) and their children moved to Utah. We were there, essentially, to find the Taylor graves. I had two leads (the Taylor Cemetery in Mt. Airy, and the John Anderson Taylor Memorial Cemetery in Pilot Mountain). Before we left Mt. Airy for Virginia, we visited both.
The Taylor Cemetery in Mt. Airy is in a sorry state of dereliction. It's picturesque, make no mistake, but if you didn't know it was there...The cemetery is actually quite large, a rough estimate of a hundred wouldn't be out of the ballpark here. Most of the stones are just that, stones. According to our guide, when people were too poor to afford a proper headstone they would simply use a big rock from the area. Most of the markers here are like that. There are a few "proper" markers and there is even one mausoleum, but most of the people in this area were fairly poor.
The John Anderson Taylor Cemetery (no idea why it's named for the son and not the father, Benjamin...) is much more accessible, though not any more readily locatable. It's in a residential area next to a house with a lot of (intact) male dogs. We drove up a grassy track and were attacked by four dogs; two German Shepherds, a Boxer, and a Beagle (well, the cars were attacked, we were still in them. Once we got out of the cars the dogs ran away.). The cemetery is surrounded by a chain-link fence and we were told by the lady with us (she is from the Genealogical Society) that the last time she had been there the grass was cut. The day we were there the grass was about knee high.
When we were done, I walked out of the cemetery to find the little Beagle just sitting there in the middle of the track. He let me walk right up to him and even pet him! He seemed a little unsure at first, but as soon as I stopped petting him he got all excited and wanted to give me hugs and kisses. He was the cutest...
St. Augustine, Florida to Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
Day 11
Mt. Airy, North Carolina to Fairfax County, Virginia.
The trip from St. Augustine to Mt. Airy was fairly typical. I had the dubious pleasure of driving through Georgia...apparently in Georgia the speed limit is merely a suggestion, either that or people don't understand the concept. At any rate, I was quite happy to let someone else take over once we hit the visitors center on the South Carolina border. I have since been informed that I should "go with the flow" and drive like everybody else "when in Rome." I have a few issues with that, but suppose it's not a bad idea from a purely sanity-saving point of view.
Anyway, the trip north was otherwise uneventful and we arrived in Mt. Airy and managed to find our lodgings without too much difficulty. We were only staying one night, so we drove around a bit and then found a great Mexican restaurant called Chili Rojo. Very good, highly recommend.
Now, you might be wondering what we were doing in Mt. Airy...I bet most of you have never even heard of it...or, perhaps you've heard of it by its other name - Mayberry. Yes, that's right, Mt. Airy, North Carolina is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the location for the Andy Griffith show. His house has been turned into a museum and there are loads of references to both Andy and the show. But that's not why we were there.
BELOW: 1) Mayberry Mall (sorry for the crappy pictures; again, moving vehicle). 2) Main Street Mt. Airy. 3) Andy Griffith Parkway.
My 4th great grandparents, Benjamin and Nancy Taylor are buried, along with several of their children, in Mt. Airy. That's where they ended up after moving from...somewhere...in Virginia (there is conflicting information about just where they lived while in Virginia). From there, their son Thomas and his wife Mary (my 3rd great grandparents) and their children moved to Utah. We were there, essentially, to find the Taylor graves. I had two leads (the Taylor Cemetery in Mt. Airy, and the John Anderson Taylor Memorial Cemetery in Pilot Mountain). Before we left Mt. Airy for Virginia, we visited both.
The Taylor Cemetery in Mt. Airy is in a sorry state of dereliction. It's picturesque, make no mistake, but if you didn't know it was there...The cemetery is actually quite large, a rough estimate of a hundred wouldn't be out of the ballpark here. Most of the stones are just that, stones. According to our guide, when people were too poor to afford a proper headstone they would simply use a big rock from the area. Most of the markers here are like that. There are a few "proper" markers and there is even one mausoleum, but most of the people in this area were fairly poor.
BELOW: 1, 2) The trail to the Taylor Cemetery. 3) View of the cemetery...there are actually dozens of headstones in this underbrush. 4) The only mausoleum in the cemetery. 5) Proper marker. 6) Rock marker.
The John Anderson Taylor Cemetery (no idea why it's named for the son and not the father, Benjamin...) is much more accessible, though not any more readily locatable. It's in a residential area next to a house with a lot of (intact) male dogs. We drove up a grassy track and were attacked by four dogs; two German Shepherds, a Boxer, and a Beagle (well, the cars were attacked, we were still in them. Once we got out of the cars the dogs ran away.). The cemetery is surrounded by a chain-link fence and we were told by the lady with us (she is from the Genealogical Society) that the last time she had been there the grass was cut. The day we were there the grass was about knee high.
BELOW: John Anderson Taylor Memorial Cemetery. 1) View of the cemetery. 2) My 4th great grandparents. 3) Their son, for whom the cemetery is named. 4) Illegible marker (some of the more weathered markers are being replaced with new ones). 5) My parents and Esther Johnson, the lovely lady who helped us find the cemeteries.
When we were done, I walked out of the cemetery to find the little Beagle just sitting there in the middle of the track. He let me walk right up to him and even pet him! He seemed a little unsure at first, but as soon as I stopped petting him he got all excited and wanted to give me hugs and kisses. He was the cutest...
BELOW: The Beagle. Gosh he was a sweet dog! Too bad I couldn't just take him with me.
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