{"id":2189,"date":"2012-04-12T19:04:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T01:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drfumblefinger.com\/wrdprs\/?p=2189"},"modified":"2017-07-30T22:56:56","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T04:56:56","slug":"travels-with-elvis-part-4-a-visit-to-tupelo-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drfumblefinger.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/travels-with-elvis-part-4-a-visit-to-tupelo-mississippi\/","title":{"rendered":"Travels with Elvis (Part 4). A visit to Tupelo, Mississippi — birthplace of the King of Rock ‘n Roll."},"content":{"rendered":"

Tupelo is not on the radar of most travelers.   As it’s the birthplace of Elvis Presley, we felt a visit here was an important component of our “Travels with Elvis” jaunt.   And we’re glad we made the journey to Tupelo<\/a>, just a few hours south of Memphis via scenic roads; wish we’d had more time to linger and get to know it better.<\/p>\n

Tupelo is a small city of only 35,0000, emerged from the poverty that gripped much of the South for so long.  It seems to have evolved into a comfortable middle class community through the hard work and perseverance of its incredibly warm and disarmingly polite citizens.  They’re proud of the role Tupelo played in Elvis’ formative years and about so many other things in their lives.  It’s not hard to find someone who’s glad to share special stories or memories about Elvis, or about football, or family, or the South — or whatever.  I was completely charmed by these folks and know I’ll be back for a longer stay someday.  There’s a fairly sizable contingent of the “Presley” clan — cousins, distant cousins and the like — still residing here.<\/p>\n

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Mississippi Historic marker, Elvis Birthplace<\/p><\/div>\n

I had a few thoughts as we were wrapping up our visit here:  i) if Elvis had been born in today’s Tupelo, his parents likely could have made a decent living and the family would not have been forced to move to Memphis.  Without an exposure to poverty and the Memphis blues and music scene, key inspirational factors in Elvis’ upbringing would have been lacking.  He may indeed just have ended up in a regular job rather than cutting records at Sun studios and making Rock ‘n Roll history.  ii) When I travel to other countries I like to visit the big cities for a few days but as I rule I like to get into small towns to get a better feel for the people.  If someone from another country wanted to see what the “real America” is like, I can think of no better place to direct them than to Tupelo, Mississippi.<\/p>\n

Some things to see and do in Tupelo:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1) Elvis Presley Birthplace Site<\/a>:  Elvis was born in East Tupelo, literally on the wrong side of the tracks.  Now East Tupelo is part of greater Tupelo but when Elvis was a boy this poorer part of town was a few cotton fields from downtown.<\/p>\n

An official Mississippi landmark, the birthplace is a surprisingly busy place with buses of Elvis fans from around the world pulling up all the time.  The Birthplace Site<\/a> is now complex of structures and was in the middle of a $6,000,000 expansion when we visited.  Here’s some of what you can see:<\/p>\n

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Elvis’ Birthhome, Tupelo, built by his father, Vernon<\/p><\/div>\n