It’s the place of honor where I keep my Mayberry-themed and family photos.  The big one on top?  It’s a photo of the Mayberry Depot.  My grandfather was the station master for many years.  His friends knew him as “Cren” but I called him “Papa Cren.”   My father gave me this photo in its original frame as a housewarming gift when I moved to Mayberry and I treasure it.  No one is for sure, but it’s been speculated the photo was taken in 1940.  It’s too large for me to scan, but here’s a closer look.

You can’t see it here, but on the far right of the photo my grandfather is standing on the platform waiting for the train to come in.

Today the Mayberry Depot is a cafe with the best chicken fried steak and coconut creme pie you’ll ever eat.  It’s quite an experience to dine at a table by the track-side windows when the trains come through.  They have a copy of this photo on their wall, but I’m lucky they don’t have one particular Depot artifact that now resides in my home -- my grandfather’s desk chair.  It’s an oak Windsor chair that he used for years at the Depot, and because he was tall and his desk short, the chair has unusually short legs.

My grandfather was a dapper fellow -- born in 1885.  Here’s a photo of him in his WWI uniform.

Another favorite photo on my Mayberry wall is this one of my grandmother, grandfather, father and aunt.  It was taken in 1923.  Don’t they just look like the All-American family?  Or maybe I should say Mayberry’s quintessential family -- “Cren” and his wife, Marie, and their children Mary Janette and Robert.

Could my grandmother’s “flapper” hair cut be any cuter?  In her later years, my grandmother used to tell me how much she hated this photo of herself, but I think she was fabulous looking.  And see those cute little cupid lips of hers?  My cousin Betty Marie has the very same lips.

You’ve seen this photo before if you read my post “The Judge’s House.”  It’s of my home’s first owner, Reverend Barr, standing on the porch of my home.  He was a friend of “Cren” and Marie’s and I feel like I was destined to become the caretaker of Mayberry’s most unique white house.  It’s only fitting he have a spot on my Mayberry Wall, don’t you think?

And here’s the most fascinating photo on my Mayberry wall.  It’s of my grandparents and their children on summer vacation in 1935 at the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

“Cren” is seated on the far left.  My dad is next to him, followed by my Aunt Mary Janette and my grandmother Marie.  In case you’re wondering, the reason everybody’s swim suit looks the same and are imprinted with the word “Saltair” is because they’re rented.  Can you imagine rented swimsuits? I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.

They were en route to California and they stayed here.

The trip to California included a stop at the Pacific International Exposition and Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium.  As young girls, my cousin Beth and I used to love looking through my father’s souvenir post cards from Ripley’s -- especially this one.

By the way, it’s a little known fact that Leo Kongee first learned to drive nails into his head during a home remodeling project.  Leo, I feel your pain, brother. 

And Singlee?  He set his face on fire after  his contractor left a toilet on his porch for four months.

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P.S.  Like my new wall color?  It’s buttery ivory.  It used to be a weird blue-green favored by the previous owners.  Butt-ah is so much better.