Andy Griffith’s Widow Is Demolishing His House
As if being snubbed by the In Memoriam segment during the Oscars wasn’t enough, Andy Griffith’s widow has gotten permission to tear down a house he bought in the 1950s. Friends say Andy hoped that house would be turned into a museum.
The house on the waterfront of Roanoke Sound near Raleigh, N.C. wasn’t the home Andy shared with widow Cindi Griffith, but it was the home where he raised his two children.
Cindi Griffith secured the demolition permit monday.
According to Winston-Salem Journal, several of Griffith’s long-time friends had conversations with him about his plans for the smaller house. None of them believe Cindi is doing what Andy would have wanted.
Della Basnight said, “When he gave her the power to do anything, I don’t think he thought she would want to do that.”
Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long talked to Andy about mutual plans for respective museums. Long has plans for collection of his costumes. Long told the Journal, “Griffith wanted the museum to include items from his TV shows, along with memorabilia from his music career.”
Ira David Wood III, another friend of Griffith who’s known him since 1968, thought the property would be preserved and maintained like Elvis Presley’s Graceland property.
“I imagine Cindi has her reasons, and I don’t pretend to know what they are,” Wood said. “It’s a beautiful bit of property with a lot of memories attached to it. I just hope they’re not moving too fast.”
Andy married Cindi in 1983 when he was shooting Murder in Coweta County. They were together until he died of a heart attack last July.
There’s already an Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, North Carolina that houses the largest collection of Andy Griffith memorabilia. Talk of second museum in the home where he spent a good portion of his life may have been nothing more than “shooting the breeze,” but it sure isn’t pleasant to think Andy’s widow might be doing something different with the property than what he wanted.
