Character mistake: When Andy and Barney are looking through the yearbook, Barny's middle name is Milton. But Barney says many times throughout the series that his name is Bernard P. Fife.
Character mistake: Mr Darling says there are only 5 strings on the guitar he hands to Andy. You can see all 6 strings when the camera shows Andy playing Dooley.
Character mistake: In the first scene of the show, Andy, Opie and the mayor are on a pier fishing a lake. They are casting with deep sea reels. If you've ever tried casting with a deep sea reel, it doesn't work out well. You can see there no equipment on the poles.
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Super Grover ★