Although the Mayberry Drive-In and Diner has no direct connection to The Andy Griffith Show’s fictitious town, this combination eatery and outdoor cinema does share with the TV series a tendency to be populated with friendly people. Beaming owner Bob Craig even looks like a slimmed-down version of Santa Claus.
“This diner and drive-in both came together at once, on October 10, 2008,” Craig says. “We found the diner on eBay; it came out of Chesapeake, Virginia. It was called Cosmo’s, but it wasn’t that old—1998. I trucked it down here with four other guys, and we rebuilt the diner, put up a movie screen, the whole thing.”
