Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series on the fictional town of Mayberry and its relation to Wilmore.

The image is as iconic as any piece of Americana: father and son walking toward the lake, fishing poles in hand. Put the toe-tapping, whistled theme song in the background, and you have the opening sequence of “The Andy Griffith Show,” CBS’s beloved sitcom.

One of the calling cards of the popular show, oddly enough, was not one of the characters, but rather the setting — the little town of Mayberry.

The show put Mayberry — a fictional town — on the map, and it has since become part of the lexicon referring to a place with a small-town, classic feel where the neighbors are friendly and the children are well-behaved.

In Jessamine County, Mayberry is nearly synonymous with Wilmore, as countless visitors get that old-timey feeling and even make special arrangements to come to the town for a “Mayberry wedding.” It is not uncommon to hear the comparison in any of the shops or on Main Street during one of the many festivals. Margaret Morgan, Wilmore community development director, attributed the draw to the nostalgia of living in the South in the 1950s.

“I was thinking about Wilmore and Mayberry last night, and I decided that my feeling is that both of these towns are a place in one’s heart,” she said. “I think it’s going back to the ‘50s when everything was innocent and fine, and people were neighborly and looked after each other.”

Faye Hogue, whose daughter, Jody runs Jody’s Boutique on Main Street, has lived in Wilmore since 1953 and echoed the sentiment.

“I could trust my kids out and they could walk to school — I could just trust people here,” she said. “You can still trust. It’s just a beautiful, safe place to live.”

It’s also not uncommon to see some of the Mayberry townsfolk in Wilmore residents. Morgan compared Leonard Fitch, who manages Fitch’s IGA, to Goober, who ran the service station in Mayberry.

“(Goober) was always so sympathetic to people, wanting to know how they are, talking, and I thought, that’s just like Leonard Fitch down at the IGA,” she said. “Different business, but the same personality.”

Fitch, who has lived in Wilmore for 52 years and served on the Wilmore City Council for 38 years, conceded that he does like to talk to his customers, especially the regulars.

“That’s the reason I stay on the council, because people can always come and know that I’m here if they have a problem,” he said.

He remembered the jail at the old city hall, which looked a lot like Mayberry’s jail.

“The jail was actually some old iron cages from Ringling Brothers Circus,” he said, laughing. “When we first came, there was one police officer. And the police officer actually helped clean the streets when he wasn’t on patrol.”

Morgan also likened the atmosphere of Wilmore’s Clay’s Barber Shop, owned by Clay Tankersly, to Floyd’s Barber Shop in Mayberry.

“(Clay) doesn’t have as much trade as he once did, but when he is open, there are always several fellas in there, sort of like Floyd’s, and they’re always talking and exchanging gossip,” she said. “It’s just a cultural meeting place.”

Similarities between the two towns, while not exact, abound.

In “The Andy Griffith Show,” Mayberry, N.C. was a town with 1,800 people and one stoplight. Wilmore has about 6,000 people and two stoplights.

They each had a barber shop (Mayberry’s Floyd’s and Wilmore’s Clay’s), a gas station (Mayberry’s Goober’s and Wilmore’s Cluckers), a drugstore (Mayberry’s Walker’s and Wilmore’s Sim’s) and a grocery store (Mayberry’s Foley’s and Wilmore’s Fitch’s). Mayberry’s fishermen went down to Myers Lake, much like Wilmore residents make the short drive to the Kentucky River. Wilmore even has several front porch swings, a traditional symbol of Mayberry.

“The Lawrences (Gayle and Carolyn) live up the street in a historic house with a wide front porch, and in the summertime you can go by there, and they’re sitting out on their white wicker furniture drinking lemonade waving at people,” Morgan said. “Who sits on their front porch anymore? But they did at Mayberry.”

Morgan, Hogue and Fitch all agreed that they enjoy living in a snapshot of the past, and the slower pace and the neighborly feel suits them just fine.

“Wilmore’s just a different place to live; it really is,” Hogue said. “And I love it — I’ve always loved it. I’ve been here, and I’ve never regretted a day.”

“I really think that there are a lot of laid-back qualities, and I think a lot of people love to live in Wilmore for that reason,” Fitch said. “Wilmore is just a lot more friendly than a lot of places.”

Morgan said she hopes Wilmore never loses that charm.

“I just think all these years — I’m sure we were exactly Mayberry in the ‘50s — but after all these years, we’re still Mayberry,” she said. “We haven’t lost that love of yesteryear and doing good things in small-town America.”