A little touch of Mayberry

The Scheuermanns have watched many of the nearly 250 episodes of the show up to 200 times, scanning for details to make the home authentic.

Take the stone fireplace. It's 12 feet wide, because Dave Scheuermann watched Andy walk across the room and counted his strides, figuring three feet for each step.

Food is served on Blue Willow plates like Aunt Bee used, in a dining room decorated to match the TV scenes - right down to a ceramic pelican that Opie won at a fair and the pictures on the wall.

"The Grandma Moses picture - it took us four years to find it," Scheuermann said.

Scheuermann and her husband met in 1997 on a Web site set up for fans of the show, in a chat room called "Sarah, get me the courthouse," a reference to Mayberry's unseen telephone operator.

People used the chat room to rehash the shows. "We all took names of the characters of the show. Dave was Orville Monroe because Orville Monroe was the funeral director in Mayberry and Dave is a funeral director. And I took on the name Eleanora Poultice because that was Barney's music teacher," said Scheuermann, who teaches music part-time. "You'd sit there and giggle because you would realize someone else was as sick as you are."

Eventually, the two met in person at Mayberry Days in Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, N.C. The friendship blossomed into a relationship and the couple married in 2001. They started building their home a year later.

"I had wanted to own a bed-and-breakfast for years," Scheuermann said. "We thought, 'Wouldn't it be fun if we could do Andy's house?'"

Right now they are working on recreating Andy's courthouse office in the basement of the 7,400-square-foot home, along with replicas of Deputy Barney Fife's room and Wally's Filling Station.

Luns, who stayed at the inn in June, will return when the work is completed. "I can't wait," he said.

If You Go:

TAYLOR HOME INN BED & BREAKFAST: 373 30th Ave., Clear Lake, Wis.; http://www.taylorhomeinn.com or 715-263-2639. Rates: $75-$95 nightly.

ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW RERUN WATCHERS CLUB: http://www.mayberry.com.

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