A little touch of Mayberry

By ROBERT IMRIE

updated 3:48 p.m. ET July 27, 2006

CLEAR LAKE, Wis. - Marsha Scheuermann met her husband Dave in an Internet chat room where they shared their passion for the 1960s TV sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show." Eventually they fell in love and married.

Today, they live in a replica of Sheriff Taylor's home, and they run a bed-and-breakfast there called the Taylor Home Inn.

"We love the show," Marsha Scheuermann said. "The word fan doesn't quite do it. You got to use the whole word - fanatic."

Guests at the inn are greeted by a "Welcome to Mayberry" sign on the front door as the show's theme song - "The Fishing Hole" with its distinctive whistling - plays in the background.

The door opens and there's Andy's front room just like it looked on TV - the couch and chairs, Look magazines on the coffee table, an RCA Victor black-and-white television, and a bottle of Col. Harvey's Indian Elixir herb formula medicine. (Remember when Aunt Bee bought the tonic for strength and vigor, and got a little tipsy?)

Ann Heisenfelt / AP The lamb lamp in Opie's Room at the Taylor Home Inn north of Clear Lake, Wis., was one of the most difficult items for Marsha Scheuermann to find as she worked to decorate the bed and breakfast based on the sets of "The Andy Griffith Show."

"It's all vintage," Scheuermann said. "But it's comfy."

Craig Luns, 37, and his wife, Stacy, of Farmington, Minn., recently spent two nights there.

"It was kind of surreal," he said. "It seems like you are right inside the television show."

The inn is located in Clear Lake, a town of about 1,000 people some 90 miles northeast of the Twin Cities. Scheuermann estimates that the inn cost $250,000 to build and furnish.

"I thought they were crazy at first," said Dave's mother, Rosemary Scheuermann, "but it is the most wonderful, relaxing place to come."

Guests have three choices - Aunt Bee's room, Opie's or Andy's - and they appreciate the old-fashioned wholesomeness.

"It felt like I walked into a different time era, like it was a time warp," said Roger Byrd, 57, of Prior Lake, Minn. "I just forgot about living in 2006."

Even the family dog has a Mayberry moniker - Ellie Walker, after Andy's girlfriend.

MORE FROM ROAD TRIPS

Road Trips Section Front

God bless the 20-hour road trip America's best driving roads How to make a speed run Badlands battle for off-roading Pack your bags for the Misty Mountains   Slide show: Olympic National Park Road Trips Section Front   Add Road Trips headlines to your news reader: