The summer months have flew by and now…tada…here comes fall. Summer has been eventful for Scenic Escapes Travel. We kicked off the summer with a trip to Nassau, Bahamas, then celebrated Independence Day by taking a trip to the Grand Canyon, spent a weekend with our granddaughters hanging out at Six Flags Over Texas and enjoying the 2019 version of The Lion King, and recently returned from a trip to Memphis, Tennessee. Whew…if that wasn’t enough, we will end the summer celebrating my birthday with a trip to Spain this week.
Our weekend stay in Memphis was filled with history, culture, reflection and laughter. So much history in Memphis, we really did not do it justice with only a three day visit. And, I will definitely not do it with this write up.
We entered the city of Memphis at the perfect time and was able to enjoy the lighting on the Hernando de Soto Bridge connecting Tennessee and Arkansas.
Traveling from Arkansas to Tennessee on the Hernando de Soto bridge
A Tour of Possibilities
Our first foray into the culture of Memphis was an enlightening driving tour conducted by our energetic and knowledgeable guide, Jackie Murray. The tour showcased contributions made by African Americans on Memphis' business, music, sports, politics, education and religion. We were introduced to many historical and cultural gems including the National Civil Rights Museum/Lorraine Motel/site of the assassination of Dr. King, Slave Haven/Underground Railroad Museum, Mason Temple/site where Dr. King gave his famous and last speech "I've Been to the Mountain Top" and Historic Beale Street. We were entertained by stories of:
Tom Lee – Although he could not swim, Mr. Lee witnessed the capsizing of a steamboat in the Mississippi River and rescued 32 people. The city park, located west of downtown Memphis, overlooking the Mississippi River is named after him (Tom Lee Park).
Front Street – By the 20th century, Memphis was the largest inland cotton market in the world, which led to the development of Front Street – the first city street above the riverfront. Front Street became the heart of the cotton trade, the center of the Memphis economy for more than a hundred years, and the street earned its nickname “Cotton Row”.
Memphis Pyramid – The structure of the pyramid plays on the city’s namesake in Egypt. Opened in 1991, the structure was the home court for the NBA Memphis Grizzlies until the team moved to the FedExForum in 2004. In 2015, the building was re-fitted as the Bass Pro Pyramid and is home to retail store, hotel, restaurant, bar, aquarium, archery range, shooting range, laser arcade, Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl and Grill (bowling alley). In addition, the tallest elevator in America takes visitors to The Lookout at the apex of the building with a captivating view of the city.
St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital – Founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas on the premise that “no child should die in the dawn of life”. This idea resulted from a promise that Thomas had made to a saint years before the hospital was founded. Thomas was a comedian who was struggling to get a break in his career and living paycheck to paycheck. When his first child was about to be born, he attended Mass and put his last $7.00 in the offering bin. He prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus for a means to provide for his family, and about a week later, he obtained a gig that paid 10 times what he had put in the offering bin. After that, Thomas believed in the power of prayer. He promised St. Jude Thaddeus that if the saint made him successful, he would one day build him a shrine. Years later, Thomas became an extremely successful comedian and built St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus to honor his promise. The hospital costs about $2.8 million a day to run, but there is no cost to a patient for treatment.
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail – The phrase “Trail of Tears” originates from a description of the removal of members of the Five Civilized Tribes from their ancestral homelands in southeastern United States. Memphis was an important stop for members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee Indians as they were being relocated to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
Slave Haven Underground Railroad – Constructed in 1849 by German immigrant, Jacob Burkle, the Burkle Estate is a historic home also known as the Slave Haven. The home is claimed by some to have served as a way station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves. In 1997, the home was opened as Slave Haven Museum and serves as part of the overall civil rights heritage of Memphis. The museum documents the history of the Underground Railroad and the possible role of the home in that secret escape network. Slavery, slave trade, slave auctions and the everyday life of slaves in the wider Memphis area are also documented in the museum.
Alcenia’s Southern Style Cuisine - A soul-food spot featured on the Food Network and Oprah’s O Magazine known for its preserves, southern style cuisine, and “Ghetto-Aid” (a diabetes-inducing fruit drink).
Mason Temple Church of God in Christ – Located in Memphis, Tennessee, Mason Temple is the central headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, the largest African American Pentecostal group in the world. On April 3, 1968, thousands filled the sanctuary to hear an address from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As Dr. King spoke in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, he called for nonviolent protests in the fight for economic justice. The remarks would become known as the “Mountaintop” speech, as Dr. King told those gathered that he had “been to the mountaintop” and had “seen the Promised Land,” adding the prophetic words, “I might not get there with you.” This speech was Dr. King’s last as he was assassinated the next day, April 4, 1968.
During our driving tour, we made an unscheduled stop at Clayborn Temple. Clayborn Temple is of national significance due to its role in the events of the Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968. Throughout the 1960s, Clayborn Temple was the city’s staging ground for the civil rights movement. The Memphis Labor Union had tried for many years to reform Memphis Public Works policies that included discrimination, unfair working conditions, and drastically insufficient wages. The deaths of two sanitation works in February 1968 united the workers, labor unions, religious community, and the black middle class. Soon thereafter, 1,300 sanitation workers went on strike. In March 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King came to Memphis in support of the sanitation workers’ efforts.
The march began with Dr. King and the sanitation workers, who had been marching this same path for weeks, in the front, while youths ran about throughout the march, pressing to get to the front.
After marching only half a mile, the youth's agitation, derived from a rumor that the police had killed a young student earlier that morning, erupted into vandalism, looting, and rioting. The police reacted brutally to the riot, launching against both nonviolent protesters and the youth. The protesters returned to Clayborn Temple, while police surrounded the building. It is reported “the interior of Clayborn looked like the aftermath of a war.” The entire building was filled with many injured and terrified protesters. The police attacked those that tried to leave the church with mace, tear gas, and clubs. At one point, police even entered the church, swinging clubs and shooting tear-gas canisters.
Over 280 people were arrested, 60 injured and one 16 year old boy shot dead by a police officer. Dr. King vowed to return to Memphis to lead a successful peaceful march. Dr. King returned a week later, but was assassinated on April 4, 1968 before the march could take place.
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, in April 2018, the city of Memphis unveiled its I Am A Man Plaza next to Clayborn Temple. The plaza features a large sculpture of the “I Am A Man” slogan made famous by the 1968 strike, and a wall with the names of the 1,300 sanitation workers that went on strike.
Beale Street
We were joined on our weekend getaway by family members from Nashville, Tennessee and chose The Westin Beale Street for our accommodations. The Westin was the perfect location and within walking distance of the heart of Beale Street. Beale Street (previously known as Beale Avenue) can best be described as three blocks of nightclubs, restaurants and shops in downtown Memphis. The iconic street is a melting pot of blues, jazz, rock & roll, R&B, and gospel. It is also a significant location in the city’s history, as well as in the history of the blues.
Beale Street is a National Historic Landmark and declared the Home of the Blues by an act of Congress. The best way to enjoy Beale Street is to grab a drink (a Fish Bowl or Walk Me Down, if so inclined) and take a leisurely stroll up and down the blocks. Music and food are the main theme. While there, we enjoyed both. The food at Silky O’Sullivan’s, B.B. King’s Blues Club, and King’s Palace Cafe was great as advertised and expected. I’d recommend you skip Pig On Beale.
We also threw a few bucks in the tip jar for the Beale Street Flippers (such athletes!).
Beale Street Flippers
Beale Street Flippers
As it was also Elvis Week, we enjoyed a multitude of Elvis impersonations in W.C. Handy Park.
Elvis Impersonator on Beale Street during Elvis Week
Beale Street was created in 1841 by Robert Topp. In 1899, Robert Church paid the city to create Church Park at the corner of 4th and Beale and it became a recreational and cultural center, where blues musicians could gather. A major attraction of the park was an auditorium that could seat 2,000 people. Speakers in the Church Park Auditorium included Woodrow Wilson, Booker T. Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1909, W. C. Handy wrote "Mr. Crump" as a campaign song for political machine leader E.H. Crump. The song was later renamed "The Memphis Blues." Handy also wrote a song called "Beale Street Blues" in 1916 which influenced the change of the street's name from Beale Avenue to Beale Street.
From the 1920s to the 1940s, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Memphis Minnie, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Rosco Gordon and other blues and jazz legends played on Beale Street and helped develop the style known as Memphis Blues. As a young man, B. B. King was billed as "the Beale Street Blues Boy."
Beale Street was also home to Tennessee’s oldest surviving African American Church built in 1864. Beale Street Baptist Church was an important location in the early Civil Rights Movement in Memphis.
The Four Way
I know when most people think of Memphis, two things immediately come to mind: music and barbeque. But out of all the many places we ate while in Memphis, my hands-down favorite was a soul food restaurant known as “The Four Way”.
To be honest, the service was not always friendly, welcoming, or efficient, but the food will make up for it.
Located in Soulsville, The Four Way is hallowed ground. As a restaurant frequented by both black and white diners from the time it opened, it was an island of unity in a mid-century Southern city. It not only served civil rights leaders and activists, but politicians and entertainers; Elvis Presley took meals there. And of course, it was where Dr. King ate when he was in town.
National Civil Rights Museum at The Lorraine Motel
The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel, which was the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968.
The museum traces the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the time the first slave ship landed in the colonies to the present.
Walter Bailey purchased the hotel in 1945 and renamed it for his wife Loree and the song "Sweet Lorraine". The Lorraine Motel was an upscale motel that catered to black clientele. The motel had many famous guests through the 1960s, including Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.
Our introduction to the museum was an education on the history of slavery in the United States in the 16th and 17th centuries along with a graphic representation of the global impact of slavery. From there, we were immersed in a chronological timeline of what it means to be African American in the United States - - including a rendering of the U.S. Supreme Court room where oral argument was heard in the seminal Brown v Board of Education case (1954); a replica of the bus Rosa Parks rode in Montgomery, Alabama (1956); a reproduction of the student sit-ins occurring at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina (1960); the remnants of a burned bus from an attack on Freedom Riders in Anniston, Alabama (1961); replica of Dr. King’s Birmingham jail cell and audio of portion of his Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963); March on Washington murals/figures and audio of portion of his I Have A Dream speech (1963); Edmund Pettus Bridge replica and film on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama (1965); Black Power Movement exhibit (1960s – 1970s); I Am A Man exhibit illustrating the iconic Memphis Sanitation Strike (1968); and Dr. King’s powerful “Mountaintop” speech; and Room 306 and 307 where Dr. King was staying when he was assassinated (1968).
Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot at approximately 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968.
Following the assassination of Dr. King, Mr. Bailey withdrew Room 306 (where King died) and the adjoining room 307 from use, maintaining them as a memorial to the civil rights leader. Bailey's wife, Loree, suffered a stroke hours after the assassination and died five days later.
The museum opened to the public in September 1991. A thorough undertaken and enjoyment of the museum is easily a three hour plus tour. Our visit to the National Civil Rights Museum was surreal; I vacillated between anger and grief.
Graceland
As it was Elvis Week (the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley), it was only right that we paid a visit to the home of the “King of Rock and Roll”.
Graceland is a 13 acre estate mansion once owned by Elvis Presley. The home was inherited by his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley when she turned 25.
Graceland was opened as a museum in June 1982 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in March 2006. After the White House, Graceland is the second most-visited house in the United States.
The mansion was named after “Grace” Toof, the daughter of the original owner, Stephen C. Toof. Elvis purchased Graceland in 1957 for $102,500.
On August 16, 1977, Elvis died in the bathroom at Graceland allegedly of a heart attack. Elvis’ tombstone along with that of his parents (Gladys and Vernon), his grandmother (Minnie Mae), and memorial gravestone for his stillborn twin brother (Jesse) are located on the property in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion.
Graceland has a total of 23 rooms. During the tour, we wore headphones which narrate (John Stamos was my narrator) the events of Elvis’s life and introduce the relics, rooms, and all aspects of Elvis’s life.
Our tour of the property began with the entrance hall and the living room and adjoining music room to the right of the entrance hall.
To the left of the entrance hall is the dining room and connecting kitchen.
One of the most talked about rooms in the house is the jungle room. The room has an indoor waterfall of stone on the north wall. It was also the location where Elvis recorded the bulk of his final two albums.
We next toured the basement level of the home. The TV and billiards room are in the basement of the home.
The second floor of the home is closed to the public and remains untouched since the day Elvis died and is rarely seen by non-family members.
We moved to the wing added during a 1960s expansion which is now known as the Trophy Building. The Trophy Building contains personal Presley family memorabilia including the wedding attire worn by Priscilla and Elvis, Lisa Marie’s baby items, and Elvis’ high school diploma.
We next toured the racquetball court area. Within the area is a sunken sitting room with a piano where Elvis played what were to be his last two songs.
Next to the racquetball court area is a Meditation Garden used by Elvis to reflect on problems and situations that arose in his life. Today, it is now his final resting place.
After Elvis’ death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon Vernon’s death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis’ only child, Lisa Marie (who was only 11). Graceland cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000.
Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla decided to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. The gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. EPE’s fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.
An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis' grave is held on the anniversary of his death. Known as Elvis Week, it includes a full schedule of speakers and events.
The grounds of Graceland not only include the mansion, it also includes Elvis Presley’s Memphis, a car museum, (Presley Motors), studio for Sirius Satellite Radio’s all-Elvis Channel, and Elvis’ two planes Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II.
In August 2005, Lisa Marie sold 85% of the business side of Elvis’ estate. She retained 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland mansion itself and its over 13-acre original grounds and her father's personal effects - meaning costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc.
Memphis was memorable and it's remarkably appropriate that it was named after the ancient capital of Egypt which meaning translates to "Established and Beautiful". The city is rich in history and culture, so glad we were able to experience all facets of its beauty.
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