Tupelo, Mississippi

 

OK, I know you are saying it in your head so let’s do it, M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. Because of that catchy song I think I could spell Mississippi before I could spell the state I lived in, California!

Quick, what is Tupelo known for?

That’s right, the birthplace of Elvis Presley.  Shame on you if you had to look at my answer.

Tupelo was a good stopping point on our way to Memphis and it had something to see.  We found a beautiful small RV park on the edge of town that has a fantastic weekly rate.  The park has lots of trees but I was amazed that we are able to position our rig in the space so that we could use our roof mounted satellite for TV.

The weather has just been perfect so far, except for one partially rainy day.  The days are fall like with hardly any humidity and the nights are cool. 

Today we visited the Elvis birthplace and museum.  It is a very nice facility that includes the home he was born in, the church his family attended, a memorial chapel and a small museum.  As Elvis was only in Tupelo for the first 13 years of his life you can imagine the museum does not have much to display.  The house is still at the original place where it was built.  They bought the land around the house to build the museum and they moved the church to the site.  It was a nice visit and I would recommend it if you are passing through here.  I would not go of my way to come visit it, unlike Graceland, which is a really cool place to see.

So, I will give you pictures so you can say you have seen it.  No admission cost on my blog!

This is the original Assembly of God church his family worshipped in.  It was moved to this site from a few blocks away.

Inside the church.

Statue of Elvis at 13.

The house where Elvis was born.  A two room “shotgun” style home.

Front room of house.

Back room of house.

Here is some trivia for you.  The Presley family only lived in this house for a few years as Vernon Presley (Elvis’s father) went to prison for forging a check and the house was foreclosed on.  They moved to a couple of other places in Tupelo before moving to Memphis in 1948, when Elvis was 13.

For his 11th birthday his mother took him to Tupelo Hardware for his birthday present.  Elvis really wanted a .22 rifle but the owner of the store cautioned the mother about such a purchase for safety concerns and recommended a guitar.  Elvis was disappointed but realized the guitar was the only thing his mother would buy or he would get nothing.  As they say, the rest is history!  The Tupelo Hardware store is still in its original location and run by the same family.