Piedmont and Mayberry

I’ve been reading with great interest the posts that are made on my Facebook feed “You Know You’re From Piedmont When…” The posts often bring a sense of happiness that I didn’t fully understand at first, but this morning I was driving to work and it occurred to me why they do. Those feelings come from the innocence of an era that I subconsciously long for. It is the same reason I enjoy The Andy Griffith Show reruns on TBS – even without the humorous episodes. In many ways, the writers for that show perfectly captured the essence of a typical, small southern town like Piedmont.

Mayberry had several characters that I could literally plug someone from Piedmont in that I knew growing up. With little effort I can imagine the character of Otis (the town drunk with a heart of gold) being created from someone…