Why I Built My Life and Career in the Mount Airy, NC, Area

Tourism Partnership of Surry County

While it’s often thought that opportunity only thrives in large metropolitan areas, a visit to Mount Airy, NC, and the surrounding Surry County area will quickly extinguish that generalization. With its charming communities and diverse industries, this predominantly rural area offers residents the opportunity to craft lives and careers as unique and individualized as those they could build in a big city. But, at the same time, residents can avoid the traffic, high cost of living and siloed lifestyle often associated with large urban areas. Ahead, a few Mount Airy, NC, area locals share what they love about living and growing their careers in Surry County and why they have no plans to leave.

Will Marion and Alyssa Munson

Surry County native Will Marion left home for college in Nashville, TN, before moving to Austin, TX, where he met his fiancé, Alyssa Munson. After more than a decade away, the opportunity to take over his family’s third-generation jewelry business presented itself. Feeling ready for a change, the couple decided to move to Mount Airy, NC. While Marion felt comfortable moving back, Munson was apprehensive.

“For him, it was a move back home and someplace familiar with people he knew,” she says. “But I was moving without knowing anyone or having a plan for what I was going to do when we got there.”

Both Marion and Munson say the community is a huge selling point of the area.

“One of the big things for us is that the community is starting to feel younger,” Marion says. “Growing up here, a lot of the reason people my age left town was because it felt like we had very little opportunity.”

Today, however, he says a lot of younger people are moving back, many of whom he and Munson have met through a group called Foothills Young Professionals, an organization dedicated to attracting young talent and helping them connect and grow their careers in the Mount Airy, NC, and Surry County area.

“It’s been really good for us to have a group of friends,” he says. “They all have kids, and while we don’t yet, we’re in a community where we can see raising a family.”

Although she worried initially, Munson quickly came to love the unexpected sense of community she found in Surry County.

“Making new friends as an adult when you move somewhere new or finding where you fit in can be difficult,” she says. “But it was really easy to get involved right away. There are so many groups, organizations and chances to network with your peers.”

Audrey Cassell

When Wake County native Audrey Cassell made the move to Surry County to work in special education, her choice in destination had an immense impact on her life. From meeting her husband to raising her son, all while making a career pivot, Surry County has offered a fulfilling community where Cassell feels engaged. Living in the Dobson area, Cassell made a big career change by choosing to embrace her professional and creative skills in Mountain Valley’s marketing department.

“I’m really grateful to Mountain Valley for letting me explore what I wanted to do and figure out what my career path was and what I like doing,” Cassell says.

In addition to her work at Mountain Valley, Cassell helps lead Foothills Young Professionals.

“There’s a real passion in the community to make this a place where we can grow and raise our kids and a place our kids will want to come back to,” she says.

Cassell says many people associate the area with the fictitious town of Mayberry from the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, and she echoes Marion’s sentiment that the area’s population is much younger now than it used to be.

“A lot of people, especially older generations, think of Mayberry as our whole culture, but there’s so much more to the area than that,” she says, noting the region’s thriving small businesses, live music and growing entertainment scene.

Ben Griffin

After moving to Lewisville, NC, from Virginia and commuting to Holly Springs, NC, for work as the plant manager of a manufacturing company, Kansas native Ben Griffin found himself getting to know the people of the Mount Airy, NC, and Surry County area. His connection to the city and county grew when he joined the board of the United Fund of Surry, a nonprofit that works to serve residents of the county.

“The more people I got to know in Mount Airy, the more I liked it,” he says.

In 2022, Griffin and his wife moved to Mount Airy, NC, after falling in love with its small-town feel and friendly, welcoming people.

What sealed the deal for the couple was learning about the special needs program at Mount Airy High School, which Griffin saw while visiting on behalf of the United Fund of Surry. As the father of a daughter with Down syndrome, Griffin says he was especially impressed with the high school’s coffee shop, which is run by students with special needs.

“That resonated with me that they’re teaching these kids in high school how to serve the public and actually gain skills that they can use after graduation,” he says. “I just really like how they’ve embraced my daughter. That’s been very refreshing.”

Griffin says that together, these things make the area feel like a place where he and his wife can retire. And for a family that’s moved “a fair amount,” that’s a pretty great feeling. 

Whether you are seeking exciting career opportunities, a place to settle down or a community where you can make an impact and engage with others, Surry County offers all of that and more. Come feel supported and fulfilled in this growing rural community.

This article is sponsored by the Surry County Economic Development Partnership.