Mount Airy is best known as the inspiration for Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show. But just across the street from the museum dedicated to its star, another attraction tells a very different story.
The Siamese Twins Museum is centered on the lives of Chang and Eng Bunker — two brothers born conjoined at the chest in Siam, now Thailand. They first captured global attention in the late 1820s, when they were brought to America and exhibited in traveling shows.
For much of their lives, they were treated as curiosities. Lurid sketches of their bodies appeared in newspapers, and at the peak of their celebrity, the attention was relentless. Tanya Jones, head of the Surry Arts Council, says the goal of the museum is to reclaim their story, shifting away from the sensational headlines and toward the truth of their lives.
“Because they truly lived their lives, striving for dignity, not striving to be remembered as freaks or monsters or objects of interest,” she says.
The story is a personal one for Jones — Eng Bunker was her great-great-grandfather. She spent her childhood hearing about their lives from her family members.
“And then I became very attached with original letters, not just letters to and from Eng and Chang but also to and from their associates and friends because that's where you find the real story.”
That story is on display in the exhibits, which guide visitors through the twins’ lives chronologically, from their birthplace, to their years on tour, and finally to their home in Surry County. Artifacts include medical records, a model of a boat similar to those used in their youth and, noticeably, checkerboards.
“On their four-month journey from Siam to Boston, where they initially landed, they learned English and they learned how to play checkers — they loved playing games,” says Tyler Halstead, the museum’s director of collections. “That's one of the things that they would do later on in their touring, sit down and play a game with each other.”
Halstead says the game was one way the twins took ownership of the public’s fascination with them. In their early years, their act wasn’t in their control — they were made to perform physical feats by a manager who exploited them. But once independent, they reshaped their act into something more conversational — Q&A sessions often hosted in hotels.
They made enough money on the road to buy land in Surry County, and became the first Thai people to obtain U.S. citizenship. They married white sisters at a time when interracial marriage was illegal, and raised 21 children. The twins also became slaveowners — a part of their story Halstead says the museum does not shy away from.
“We are dedicated to telling the story of the original Siamese twins in the most authentic and real way possible that we can, which also includes the bad parts of their life, and the good parts of their life.”
The museum includes information about some of the enslaved people who worked on the Bunkers’ farms. It’s part of the exhibit on the twins’ life in North Carolina, outside of touring. That section also contains many artifacts donated by descendants, who now number in the thousands.
The Siamese Twins Museum is open daily, and tickets can be bundled with admission to the Andy Griffith Museum across the street. For visitors, it can be a striking contrast: one side of the street celebrates the simplicity of Mayberry, the other a reminder that history is rarely simple.