Graceland. What more need I say? By the way, since it seems I’m going to be perennially behind on these posts, I’m going to start attaching dates to blog entries to indicate when the experience occurred.
I stayed over an extra day in Memphis to see Elvis Presley’s Graceland, since it wasn’t open on Tuesday. I’ve never been a big Elvis fan, and admission wasn’t cheap, but I have to say I really enjoyed my visit, and - like his music or not - I gained a much greater appreciation for the enormous impact he had on the music business.
The night before my planned visit, I moved my motorhome to the RV park right behind the Heartbreak Hotel - I figured, why not? By the way, here’s the hotel itself:
It’s seen better days, but fits right in with the whole 1950’s vibe. I also reserved the same RV space for the next night so I could devote the entire day to Elvis. There was plenty to fill the hours. I’ve heard people say that Graceland is in a seedy part of town. The whole visitor complex is quite self-contained and I never felt at risk. I was surprised by how far south of downtown Graceland is, about nine miles.
The tour facilities are an easy walk from the RV park or the Heartbreak Hotel. Here’s the entrance to the ticketing facility:
There are several options for ticket packages, but don’t be intimidated. Just step up to the window and they’ll happily explain all the options. I got the mid-range package, which was more than enough for me.
Graceland is across the highway from parking and ticketing. A shuttle bus takes you across and up the driveway. By today’s standards, the house is not that imposing:
When you enter the front door, you’re presented with a stairway up to the second floor ( since this was mid-December, everything was decorated for Christmas):
The second floor is not included on any tour. When Priscilla or Lisa-Marie are in town, they still use that floor as a private residence. Turning around in the foyer, this is the view:
Stained glass is used extensively throughout the home. To the right as you enter, is the living room:
I thought this was reasonably tasteful for 50’s decor. The room to the left of the picture above, toward the back of the house, is the room Elvis provided for his parents to live in:
I guess someone liked purple. To the left of the entry is the dining room:
A photo of Priscilla and the young Lisa-Marie hangs on the dining room wall:
Moving toward the back of the house from the dining room, you pass by the kitchen:
I imagine many a peanut butter and banana sandwich was assembled there. Next toward the back of the house is the “Jungle Room”:
Yes, this is probably a bit over the top for most tastes, but he was going for a theme, and nailed it fairly well. From the Jungle Room, we descended a stair into the basement. Under the living room is the media room:
Honestly, it would make me crazy to spend any significant time in here. However, Elvis was one of the first to have a TV for each of the network channels. Under the dining room/kitchen is the billiard room:
Yes, all the walls and the ceiling are draped with fabric. I found it to be oppressive and claustrophobic.
We came up from the basement and exited into the backyard. Here is the back of Graceland, which shows there’s quite a bit more to the structure than the front facade implies.
Much of the land behind the house is given to a corral for horses:
Tales from visitors reveal that this land was also used for wild riding of ATVs and go-carts.
There also are a number of outbuildings behind the main house. One was the business office from which the Elvis empire was managed, including answering all his fan mail:
Another building served as a small indoor shooting range:
There’s a large building given over entirely to holding Elvis’s awards and memorabilia:
It was here that I really began to get the sense of how many awards and gold records Elvis amassed during his career.
Perhaps the most impressive outbuilding is the raquetball court. Here is a lounge outside the court where guests could watch a match through the glass wall behind the draperies on the right:
This room has special significance because it is that last place Elvis was seen alive before he died. The raquetball court has been turned into an additional exhibit to hold Elvis’ awards:
I found his performance outfits to be fascinating:
Returning outside, at the south end of the house is a contemplative garden:
and the graves of Elvis and his parents:
That’s the end of the Graceland Mansion tour. From there, the shuttlebus will take you to an archive of Elvis documents (which I skipped) and back across the highway to the visitor’s center. There’s plenty more to see there, most of it included with the mid-range ticket. I visited the museum of cars that Elvis owned:
The last one above I believe he bought for his mama. There’s a couple more vehicles on display in a restaurant nearby:
There were also some more costumes to view:
The list of exhibits goes on and on, and each one has its own associated gift shop, but I’d had enough Elvis for one day.
The next day, I was headed down the road to Alabama and I noticed my route took me right past Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo Mississippi. I hadn’t planned to go, but since I was already there…
This is the actual house in which he spent the first thirteen years of his life:
The church his family attended has been moved to an adjacent site:
There is yet another museum dedicated to his early years, but I took a pass on that, contenting myself with a photo of ( a replica of ) the family car:
My goal now was the Florida panhandle and the Gulf Coast, but I had a couple stops along the way, and those are the subject of my next post.
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