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Vacation Elvis Style - Part 1 / 13
Throughout the summer months we will have a new
series of articles on planning a vacation "Elvis style." We
will explore the places Elvis played, performed and lived.
Places you too might want to visit.
We begin the series with Elvis's beloved state of Tennessee.
Tennessee
Kingsport, Tennessee was the site of an Elvis
9/22/55 concert at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium. He was
still relatively unknown at the time. Tickets were only $1.25
and appearing on bill with Elvis and his band were The Louvin
Brothers and Cowboy Copas. Continuing in east Tennessee very
near where the states of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and
Tennessee meet, is Johnson City. While performing here at
Freedom Hall Civic Center 3/17-19/76, Elvis stayed at the
Holiday Inn South near Bristol. A mob of fans waited hours at
the hotel for just a glimpse of him. After his three-day stay
the bed linens and the foil used to cover the windows were cut up in
small pieces and sold to raise money for local charities.
Elvis again performed there 5/20/77.
Elvis performed at the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville 4/8/72, 3/15/74 and 5/20/77. He stayed at the
Sheraton Campus Inn while performing at Stokely Athletic Center to
sell-out crowds. In Murfreesboro is the Murphy Athletic
Center of Middle Tennessee State University. Elvis performed
there 3/14/74, 3/19/74, 4/29/75 and 5/6-7/75.
Nashville is the home of the Ryman Auditorium, the
site of the live Grand Ole Opry country music show and its radio
program. It was on 10/2/54 on The Grand Old Opry that a young
Elvis sang "Blue Moon of Kentucky." After a polite reception
from the audience, he and his band met the song's writer Bill
Monroe, who praised their version of his song. Elvis then
appeared on Ernest Tubb's radio show live from Tubb's record shop
down the street. Elvis would not perform in Nashville again
until 7/1/73 when his tour stopped there at the Municipal
Auditorium. Over the years he would often travel to Nashville
to record at RCA Studio B located on Music Row. Today, you
also can visit Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame where on
display are Elvis's gold piano, his gold Cadillac and personal
clothing. On your way from Nashville to Memphis you might stop
at Brownsville's West Tennessee Heritage Center. There on loan
from the Graceland Archives Collectin is a jacket Elvis wore in his
1960 "home from the army"
press conference at Graceland.
Visitors to Memphis, Elvis's hometown, will find many
interesting Elvis-related sites to see. Graceland, his home
for twenty years, will of course be among the places to visit.
You also might want to plan to see our special 2005 exhibit in the
Sincerely Elvis Museum that honors Elvis and the Memphis he loved.
Among other sites you might want to plan to see is Sun Studio and
Museum where there is on loan 1950s memorabilia from the Graceland
Archives Collection. Other local Memphis museums that have
Elvis items on loan include the Rock'n' Soul Museum, Stax Museum,
Mud Island Museum and the Pink Palace Museum. Elvis's alma
mater Humes High School (now a junior high school) usually has
tours during early August. The Audubon Park Shell is the site
of Elvis's first professionally billed performance and nearby on
Audubon Drive is the first home he bought for himself and his
family. Today it is privately owned but during August the
owners usually have tour times available for fans.
The family apartment at the housing project,
Lauderdale Courts, is now on the National Register of Historic
Places and has been restored. Now a part of Uptown
Memphis, the apartment is also available for short term stays and
usually available for tours in August. Libertyland Amusement
Park is open during the summer and you can ride Elvis's favorite
roller coaster ride, the Zippin Pippin. Nearby is the
Coliseum where he performed. Beale Street is always a fun
destination for visitors of Memphis. There one can find the
sound of great blues music and the smell of delicious barbecue.
The famous Peabody Hotel was the site of Elvis's high school prom
and is home to the famed Peabody ducks. Lansky's
clothing store, where Elvis bought many of his clothes
through out his life, is also now located in the
Peabody. |
