Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum

Day 2's itinerary included a stop in Tupelo, Mississippi, at the birthplace of Elvis Presley.  While neither of us consider ourselves fans in the truest sense of the word, we do enjoy his music, so it was interesting to learn about his early life.

The Elvis Presley Birthplace is located at 306 Elvis Presley Drive in Tupelo.  There are plenty of signs pointing the way, so it would be hard to miss.  But as we learned, there are many places in Tupelo besides the Birthplace museum that pay homage to the King of Rock 'n' Roll from the schools he attended as a youngster to the hardware store where his mama bought his first guitar instead of the .22 rifle he wanted (you'll shoot your eye out, kid!).

The Elvis Presley Birthplace consists of the two-room house where he was born (I learned he had a twin brother who was still born), the church where he and his family attended and he learned music, and the museum and gift shop.  The museum focuses as much on life in Tupelo in the 1930s and early '40s as it does on the Presley family.  It also contains memorabilia donated or on loan from friends and fans.  One of the more interesting artifacts was a pair of tickets to a concert for a week after Elvis passed away.  The ticket price in 1977 was $15.  

The grounds have been designed to allow for quiet reflection and introspection through a peaceful walk around a pond with accompanying waterfalls and fountains.  The grounds are open 24/7 and seem to be a place where local folks go to walk for exercise.

The church building has been restored but does contain some of the original flooring and the original pulpit.  At one point it had been converted to a four-room home, but when it was for sale again, it was acquired for the Birthplace.  There is a presentation held there several times a day that recreates what a church service may have been like when Elvis and his family attended there.

  

The birthplace house is a two-room wooden building that has been restored and mostly has replicas of furnishings to show what it was probably like when Elvis was a boy.  The fireplace is original, and there are a few original pieces of furniture that his father donated after Elvis passed away.  The home had been occupied by others before it became part of the museum. 

There is a souvenir guidebook that you can purchase for $1.50 or you can download it for free.  DH selected a book from the gift shop about Elvis and his mother Gladys.  As it turned out, one of the people who collaborated on the book was at the gift shop and was available to sign it.  So that was pretty cool.  

I had inquired with the museum several months ago about how much time to allow for a visit; they had said typically allow 2 hours which we found was about how much time we stayed.  The last thing we did was make lunch from the back of the car.  I had a banana and some peanut butter from the hotel breakfast bar, and I had some gluten-free bread in the cooler, so I make a  picnic "peanut butter and banana open-faced sandwich" which I then ate while sitting quietly on a bench near the Reflection area.

If you have been there, what was your favorite part?  If you haven't, but plan to one day, let us know if you have any questions that we could try to answer.

~ Cindy D.