• Home
  • About Evelyn Kanter
  • Evelyn Kanter’s Books & Apps
  • Evelyn Kanter In The News
  • Workshops
  • NYC Travel Guru

Evelyn Kanter ecoXplorer

green living, smart spending

  • Green Hotels
  • Green Cars
    • Best Cars under $20,000
    • Test Drives
    • Diesel Cars
    • Electric Cars
    • Hybrid Cars
    • Hydrogen Fuel Cell
    • Luxury Drives
  • Travel Deals
    • Free
    • Budget Travel
    • Discount Tickets
  • Xplore More
    • Safety and Health
    • How To
    • Five Best
    • Travel Pioneers
    • Motorcycles
    • Vintage Cars
  • Scam Alert
  • Where to Go Next
    • Historic Travel
    • Epic Adventures
    • National Parks
Home » Visit Elvis Presley’s Birthplace, Tupelo, Miss.

Visit Elvis Presley’s Birthplace, Tupelo, Miss.

1 Comment

blac/white publicity photo of Elvis Presley

It’s Elvis Week at Graceland, with events memorializing him the week before the anniversary of his death on August 16, 1977.

He’s also celebrated year-round in Tupelo, Mississippi where he was born and grew up.

I loved my recent visit to the small Mississippi Delta hometown of The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll – and you will, too.

Tupelo is far more low-key and far less glitzy or crowded than Graceland, in Memphis, which he built after becoming a successful recording star, which can be crowded year-round, especially during Elvis Week when it’s crazy crowded and tickets to events are ridiculously expensive.

Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo  on Jan 8, 1935, which celebrates its most famous native year round, not just on his birthday, when there are concerts of Elvis music and screenings of his most popular Hollywood movies.

His rise to fame is depicted in the award-winning biopix called – simply – Elvis – released in 2021.

Unfortunately, the film completely ignores the historic “Million Dollar Quartet” association between Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, who wrote and recorded “Blue Suede Shoes”, which became one of Elvis’ earliest hits and the influence and impact they had with one another.

But I digress.

movie poster Warner Bros. Elvis
Photo: Warner Bros.

 

What to Visit in Tupelo, Miss.

My stops included the hardware store downtown where he bought his first guitar, his favorite diner, which still serves his favorite burger, and the museums which showcase his early career, including the clothing he performed in before the sequined jumpsuits, and his first car.

The Elvis Presley Birthplace is a far cry from the opulence and excess of his later life.

elvis anniversary
Elvis Presley Birthplace

His parents were poor sharecroppers, and the small two-room wooden shack was built by his father, uncle, and grandfather.

The house is a mix of original family furnishings and period-accurate items, including old 33 rpm records by musicians who influenced him, including Tennessee Ernie Ford.

The family moved 100 miles away to Memphis when Elvis was 13, and the ’39 Plymouth they drove is at the birthplace complex, too.

It also includes a small, modern memorial chapel that’s a popular spot for weddings, and a larger Elvis Presley Museum.

There are no sequined and beaded Las Vegas jumpsuits here, just a young man’s flowered shirts, corduroy and denim jackets with impossibly wide ’60s lapels and shoulder pads, and early awards for gold and platinum record and cassette tape sales. Remember cassette tapes?

The center of town is dominated by a larger-than-life size Elvis statue, based on a popular photo of him, microphone in one hand and reaching out to fans with the other. It also commemorates his “coming home” concert in 1957 at what was then the town fairgrounds.

where did Elvis buy his first guitar
Where Elvis bought his first guitar

Where Elvis Bought His First Guitar

Elvis bought his first guitar, in 1946, for $7.90, at Tupelo Hardware. An “X” on the old wooden floor marks the spot where he stood to pick it out with his mother.

He originally had wanted a .22 caliber rifle, and his mother had wanted to buy him a bicycle.

Lucky for us all, Elvis chose a guitar instead. Ten years later, he made his first gold record.

Elvis fans, from music’s Prince to royalty’s Prince Albert of Monaco, have made the pilgrimage to Tupelo Hardware to soak up the vibes.

The store has been family-owned since 1926, and the staff, several of whom have worked there for decades, are happy to chat about their legendary customer.

There’s a bucket of guitar picks at the store entrance, imprinted with Tupelo Hardware, that make a great, inexpensive souvenir. Yes, I bought one.

Walk a few blocks from the hardware store to Johnny’s Drive-In, where there’s a small marker on the wooden booth where Elvis liked to sit. Not surprisingly, the walls of this vintage restaurant are decorated with vintage posters and newspaper clippings, mostly about Elvis.

His favorite burger is still on the menu — a doughburger: ground meat stretched with flour that helped stretch lean post-war budgets.

Elvis car Tupelo Auto Museum@ecoxplorer
Tupelo Auto Museum (C) Evelyn Kanter Photographer

Vintage Cars at the Tupelo Auto Museum

Unfortunately, the wonderful Tupelo Auto Museum closed in 2019, and its 174 vehicles auctioned to collectors and other vintage car museums around the world.

Those vehicles include a Lincoln he once owned, not the Cadillacs he became identified with later in life.

I was lucky to have seen one of only 48 Tucker models ever produced, an equally rare Hispano Suiza, Studebakers from both the 1910s and the 1950s, and a replica of the 1886 three-wheel contraption made by Gottlieb Daimler that is generally regarded as the world’s first motor car.

The Gumtree Museum of Art often has Elvis-themed artworks, and around his birthday there are usually Elvis movies at the Link Centre theater.

Elvis Presley birthplace
Elvis statue dominates downtown

The center of town is dominated by a larger-than-life size Elvis statue, based on a popular photo of him, microphone in one hand and reaching out to fans with the other.

It also commemorates his 1956 Homecoming Concert at the Tupelo Fairgrounds.

The Beauty of the National Scenic Trail

Tupelo is in the middle of the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway, the National Scenic Trail that links Natchez to Nashville that began as a Native American trail.

It’s a great, scenic road trip by car or motorcycle – as I did, with a group of friends. It’s also a designated bicycle route.

Along the way there are nature trails, swamp bogs, remains of pioneer homesteads and graveyards, and Native American mounds to explore.

The trail’s headquarters are in Tupelo, and the Parkway Visitor Center is just about the only thing in town that is not Elvis-related.

Or, take one of the itineraries suggested by the Tupelo CVB, including a visit to Graceland, 100 miles away.


This article by ecoXporer Evelyn Kanter is updated and re-published annually on ecoXplorer to commemorate the birthday of the King of Rock and Roll or the anniversary of his death.

photo of Tupelo Auto Museum by (C) Copyright Evelyn Kanter is All Rights Reserved and may not be copied or shared without permission.  Contact evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.

Other photos courtesy Tupelo CVB and the Official Elvis Website.


ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter rides an Indy 500 car
Evelyn Kanter at the Indy 500

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and guidebook and smartphone app author – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

ecoxplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA.org)

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.

 

Thanks for visiting ecoXplorer. Stay up to date with the latest news about green travel, green cars, smart spending and frugal living by subscribing. It's free. RSS feed.
Welcome back to exoXplorer. Stay up to date with the latest news about green travel, green cars and smart spending by subscribing. It's free. RSS feed.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Posts:

  • Celebrate Elvis Presley in his Birthplace, Tupelo, Miss.
  • 24 Best Historic Golf Courses in USA
  • NYC Guide: Best Things to Do Through October 31
  • Where to Celebrate Women's History Month
  • Broadway Shows Opening Fall 2022
  • Fast Food Deals, New Menu Items Through November

Filed Under: Bucket List Trips, Family Travel, Historic Travel, Road Trip, Where to go Next Tagged With: Elvis Preseley, Elvis Week, Graceland, Memphis, Natchez Trace Parkway, Scenic Drives, Tupelo

What do you think? We value your comments and love hearing from you.Cancel reply

Most Popular Recent Posts

  • Where to Stream FREE Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur Services
    Where to Stream FREE Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur Services
  • Scam Alert: Kars4Kids Car Donation Charity
    Scam Alert: Kars4Kids Car Donation Charity
  • 2 Reasons to Avoid Jimmy John's
    2 Reasons to Avoid Jimmy John's
  • NYC Guide: Best Things to Do Through October 31
    NYC Guide: Best Things to Do Through October 31
  • NYC Guide: Airport Transportation
    NYC Guide: Airport Transportation
  • Free Hotel Rooms for Cancer Patients & Caregivers
    Free Hotel Rooms for Cancer Patients & Caregivers
  • Fast Food Deals, New Menu Items Through November
    Fast Food Deals, New Menu Items Through November
  • Car Rental Do's and Don'ts
    Car Rental Do's and Don'ts
  • Where to Eat in Times Square & Theater District at Local Restaurants Not National Chains
    Where to Eat in Times Square & Theater District at Local Restaurants Not National Chains
  • Best 2023 Car Interiors Under $50,000
    Best 2023 Car Interiors Under $50,000

ecoXplorer is your guide to smart spending and eco-friendly living

ecoXplorer is published by Evelyn Kanter, a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter and guidebook and smartphone app author – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), and is a past Board Member of a prestigious professional group for travel journalists.

Evelyn Kanter is Editor of SeniorsSkiing, which focuses on the 50+ outdoor enthusiast.

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com or evelyn@evelynkanter.com.

Search ecoXplorer by category

© 2010-2023 EcoXplorer by Evelyn Kanter. All articles and photos are protected by US (C) Copyright laws. Any unauthorized copying is strictly prohibited. Plus, it’s just not nice.

  • Home
  • About Evelyn Kanter
  • Evelyn Kanter’s Books & Apps
  • Evelyn Kanter In The News
  • Workshops
  • NYC Travel Guru

ecoXplorer.com is an independent information service which is compensated by advertisers and sponsors. This site includes some links to other websites which are compensated for by our sponsors when you click them.

 

Loading Comments...