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Memphis is most famous for being home to Elvis Presley, and the city’s largest attraction is his Graceland Mansion. The King’s 14-acre home features tours of all things Elvis: the trophy room, jungle room, ‘60s kitchen complete with peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the cars and even the Presley family gravesite. Memphis does have more to offer than just the mansion, though. Beale Street is famous for having some of the best nightlife it the country. Bar after bar line the street, making an amazing atmosphere late into the night. Mud Island River Park has several attractions, including a to-scale replica of the Mississippi, charting its whole path from Illinois to Louisiana. The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is held yearly in downtown Memphis and is the largest pork cook off in the world. The festival has been growing every year and the competition is fierce. With so much going on in Memphis, it’s impossible to not find something new and exciting to try.
Beale Street
Beale St., btw Front St. and Danny Thomas Blvd., Memphis TN
Beale Street is a sinner's paradise and a savior's Sisyphian nightmare. Each night crowds of tourists and locals alike fill up the bar-lined cobblestone streets. Even for the modern alternative-rocker or the dance hall queen, the blues pouring out of the innumerable clubs is hard to resist. Perhaps even harder to resist is the carnival-esque atmosphere (and beer in to-go cups) that characterizes the all-night long party.
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Graceland Mansion
3734 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.332.3322
No visit to Memphis is really complete without a visit to Elvis' 14-acre home. Tours last about an hour and provide an audio accompaniment to the King's kitschy, shag-carpeted home. Of particular note and interest are the plush and colorful 'jungle' room, the '60s kitchen (where the King's peanut butter and banana sandwiches were prepared almost daily), the trophy room (filled with Elvis' gold record collection), and the gravesite of the Presley family. See where little Lisa Marie learned to ride horses! See Elvis' extravagant and sweat-stained concert outfits and jewelry! Perhaps the greatest attraction at the Mansion, however, is the passionate crowd of tourists themselves, coming to pay tribute Rock and Roll's original King.
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Mud Island River Park
125 N. Front St., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.576.7241
Take the monorail from the eastern bank of the Mississippi to this river island where the view of the Memphis skyline is only one of the many attractions. A to-scale replica of the Mississippi River from Cairo, IL to New Orleans, LA charts the river's course and provides important information about the ecological, geographic and historical aspects of the largest river in North America. The Mississippi River Museum located in the park covers the cultural history of the Lower Mississippi River Valley, including exploration, early settlements and river engineering. Mud Island is also the permanent home of the famous Memphis Belle warplane, the first to return home from WWII battle with no casualties.
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National Civil Rights Museum
450 Mulberry St., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.521.9699
Located in the former home of the Lorraine Motel (where, in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray), the National Civil Rights Museum traces the history of the African-American freedom movement from the 1600s (when African slaves first rebelled) to modern day struggles. Audio tours and interactive media exhibits help convey the gravity of the situation, but the location and its history provide the greatest emotional kick.
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Pyramid Arena
Riverside Dr. and 2nd St., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.521.7909
A 32-story sports arena and auditorium might look odd in a mid-South city, but given that Memphis is named after an Egyptian city and early settlers considered the Mississippi River the Nile of America, it isn't that strange. Home of the Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis basketball teams, the Pyramid Arena also uses its 21,000- seat auditorium for rock and country performances as well as holiday and family shows.
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Sun Studio
706 Union Ave., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.521.0664
Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and others have recorded (and in some cases, been discovered) at this Memphis institution. Passers-by may not notice the modest brick building, though the large Gibson guitar hanging outside the front of the wedge-shaped studio is hard to miss. Inside, visitors are offered a tour of some of the studio's actual recording rooms and weary travelers can nosh at the vintage soda fountain and restaurant (best shakes in the city) and shop for Sun Studio memorabilia and recordings.
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The Peabody Hotel Duck Walk
169 Union Ave., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.529.4100
Built shortly after the Civil War, the Peabody Hotel is as much of an American institution as a Southern one. Its decadent lobby boasts crystal chandeliers, gargantuan floral arrangements, and triumphant Italian Renaissance revival architecture. Of course, the main attraction of the Peabody is the twice-daily March of the Peabody Ducks, who descend from their penthouse suite each morning at 11am guided by the Peabody Duckmaster, down a red carpet and into the base of the hotel's ornate fountain. Crowds gather, flashes pop and the ducks climb the small steps to spend the day swimming in the fountain until 5pm, when they reverse their trip to the elevator and ascend.
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The Pink Palace
3050 Central Ave., Memphis TN; Tel. 901.320.6320
Those non-Southern visitors to Memphis may not know the still thriving Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, but a tour of the Pink Palace provides so much information about founder Clarence Saunders' first self-service grocery store. Architectural fans marvel at the pink Georgian marble façade that gives this mansion its colorful name. A history of the chain, as well as exhibits on local Memphis geography and an IMAX theater show.
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--Reviews by Michael Stabile
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