BY MARTHA WAGGONER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOUNT AIRY, N.C.

But while Mayberry was fiction, it was inspired by a real place: Mount Airy, N.C., the late Andy Griffith's hometown. And more than a half-century after the series first aired, fans are still coming to Mount Airy, looking for a glimpse of small-town life and the simpler times portrayed on the show.

Here visitors can eat at the Snappy Lunch, which Griffith's character, Sheriff Andy Taylor, once recommended as a nice place to take a date. They can satisfy a sweet tooth at Opie's Candy Store, named for the sheriff's son, or book a Squad Car Tour of the city at Wally's Service Station.

Businesses with Mayberry in the name are too numerous to count, but they include the Mayberry Motor Inn and Mayberry Trading Post. There's also an Andy Griffith Museum and a bed-and-breakfast created from the actor's childhood home.

Recent visitors to the museum included Kimberly Lambert of DeRidder, La., and her family.

"If I make a statement that doesn't quite fit in with the thinking of 2012 and the liberalism of things, I'll usually say that they may sound 'a little bit Mayberry' to someone else, but that's what we believe," said Lambert. "It's a way of life. I've always perceived the Mayberry show as a way of life."

People come to Mount Airy "to walk where he walked," said Tanya Jones, executive director of the Surry Arts Council. "This is Andy Griffith's hometown. You go to Salzburg in Europe because Mozart was born there. This town influenced his creation of the fictional town. I don't think in any way that Mayberry is Mount Airy. But I definitely, absolutely, unequivocally think Mount Airy influenced his creation."

Tourism in Mount Airy is up since Griffith died, with about 10,400 people visiting the Andy Griffith Museum in July, almost double the 5,300 who visited in July 2011. More than 2,500 showed up at the museum in the three days after Griffith's death July 3, and so many came for autographs from actress Betty Lynn--who played Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend--that fans had to be turned away after the first 500.