The North Carolina Town Built Completely on Granite

Photo byApogee Behavioral Medicine

MT. AIRY, NC - Mount Airy, North Carolina, famously known as the inspiration for Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show, is built on an extraordinary natural foundation—granite.

According to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, located about 35 miles from Winston-Salem, the town is home to the largest open-faced granite quarry in the world.

The 90-acre quarry has been in operation since 1889 and produces granite so pure that pieces removed today perfectly match those extracted over a century ago.

Granite was discovered in the area in the mid-18th century, but it wasn’t until the arrival of the railroad in 1888 that large-scale quarrying began, according to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.

Thomas Woodroffe, an English businessman, capitalized on this natural resource and founded a commercial granite quarrying operation, which quickly grew, according to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.

Today, Mount Airy granite has been used in iconic projects such as the Arlington Bridge, the Wright Brothers Memorial, and the Albert Einstein Memorial.

The quarry remains an essential part of Mount Airy’s history and economy, with enough granite reserves to last another 500 years.