With the 125th anniversary of the founding of the city and the 50th anniversary of the Andy Griffith Show, Historian Thomas D. “Tom” Perry is pleased to announce release of his book Images of Mount Airy North Carolina. This 220-page book contains black and white photos celebrating the history and the memories of the “Granite City,” where the author was born after his family came from Tennessee in the 1940s. In fourteen chapters and over 200 photos, Perry gives a snapshot of the town his father, Erie Meredith Perry came of age in with a chapter on his family along with covering many aspects of the history of the town so associated today with the mythical town of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.Using personal relationships and his knowledge of the regional history Perry developed the book over the last few years not necessarily to be the definitive history of Mount Airy, but to give residents and visitors a good read with interesting images from the past and present. Perry received help from Emmett Forrest supplying images of Andy Griffith while he lived in Mount Airy. Donna Fargo personally worked with Perry for a chapter on her life. The Surry County Historical Society and Mount Airy Museum of Regional History both worked with the author on this book. Other organizations that supplied images were Mount Airy High School and the Gilmer-Smith Foundation along with many private individuals especially Burke Robertson and Steve Talley.
Mount Airy Mayor Deborah Cochran penned the Foreword in the book titled “What Mount Airy Means To Me” where she tells, poignantly and honestly, about her life in the city she now leads and how during tough times the people of Mount Airy rose up to help her family. She speaks about her dreams and how the place she called home made her dreams come true.
The cover image is the James Hadley House on Pine Street, one of the oldest and best examples of granite and Victorian architecture in Mount Airy. In Chapter Thirteen, Perry tells his personal reasons for placing the home on the cover as his grandparents lived directly across from the home and he would as a youth often sit in the window and read and look at the giant house. The Mount Airy Public Library was just a few feet up Pine Street, so it was this area that the author read books.
Chapters in Images of Mount Airy North Carolina with index and selected bibliography include Andy Griffith, Donna Fargo, the Dinky Railroad, Granite Quarry, Folks from Mount Airy, White Sulphur Springs, Main Street, Ararat River, Schools, Downtown area, Granite structures, Civil War, Reasons to Visit, and a chapter on the author’s family.
Images of Mount Airy North Carolina $19.99
ISBN 1449971733
ISBN-13 9781449971731
Available for order here Images of Mount Airy North Carolina
https://www.createspace.com/3418738
Visit Tom Perry's Amazon Page
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002F4UJGE
