We took a quick spin through Mississippi and saw some fun stuff — some cool, some pretty, and some just plain pretty funny.
First up was Elvis Presley’s Birthplace in Tupelo, where he lived from birth in 1935 to age 13. It’s an expansive campus surrounding a tiny two-room shack, for little Elvis was as poor as the day was long. He (and his twin, who didn’t survive) were born right in that bedroom. His dad had borrowed $180 to build the house, which was eventually repossessed when Vernon couldn’t repay the loan.
The museum displays a green 1939 Plymouth sedan, pointed northwest in the direction of Memphis, which the Presley family drove when leaving Tupelo, toward Elvis’ transformation from a 13-year-old boy into the world’s greatest entertainer.
From an early age, it was in this tiny church (later moved to this site) that he developed his musical chops AND his love of gospel music. Once a day, they recreate the feel of a lively, intense revival-style service, which would typically last 5-6 hours long every Sunday, but thankfully for only about 15 minutes here.
Afterwards, the employee offered to renew our wedding vows in Elvis’ church! So, we saved multiple thousands of dollars on that trip we were planning for our 20th anniversary, and got it covered in Tupelo, and while wearing my favorite ballcap, no less. You may kiss the bride!
An on-site chapel was added here, where you can listen to a nonstop loop of Elvis singing gospel, and marvel at the amazing stained glass, which includes Elvis in his famous white suit at the bottom middle.
If gospel isn’t your thing, you can also catch Elvis’ rock performances on a 24/7 loop … in the bathrooms.
The property also includes a cute lil museum, with the type of drugstore guitar that sent Elvis down the road to his destiny. For his birthday, he really wanted a gun, but his mama said “oh no you don’t” and the only other available choice in the Tupelo Hardware Company was a guitar, so there ya have it — FATE. That store still sells little guitars that tourists buy in droves, even though they are crapola from China (and now subject to tariffs), but apparently we all simply MUST have a guitar like Elvis.
Up the hill of this 15-acre property, in the former hills and hollows of an overlook where Elvis would run amok like teenagers do with his friends, is a cool statue called “Becoming,” symbolizing the transformation from Elvis-the-Boy to Elvis-the-Entertainer, in the location where he surely dreamed the dream of a better life for himself and his family.
You might know the excellent Van Morrison song, “Tupelo Honey,” and assume it’s based on Tupelo MS, but you’d assume wrong. No, Tupelo honey is from the nectar of remote wetlands of Georgia and Florida. Throughout THIS Tupelo, painted guitars (and murals … and statues … and plaques…) littered throughout the city on the “Elvis Guitar Trail” pay homage to their most famous son and his legacy.
We had previously visited Elvis’ Memphis Graceland (house — museum — airplane — burial sites — one of our FAVORITE tours ever, anywhere) and had also toured Elvis’ honeymoon cottage in Palm Springs, where he and Priscilla enjoyed newlywed bliss. If you’re an Elvis fan, add all three locations to your bucket list! “Thank you very much”: said in Elvis voice, with a swing of my hips.
Click here to see more fun pictures from our 2018 visit to Graceland, and also Sun Studios where Elvis recorded his first single!
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Our other preeminent desire was to bike the Tanglefoot Trail, Mississippi’s longest rails-to-trails path. Rails-to-trails are built on the path of old railroad lines, offering continuous, safe, mostly-car-free riding, which is important when you have an accident-prone husband. They don’t call him “Crash Miller” for nothing.
This one passes through fields, forests, wetlands, and a couple of cute lil towns. “Whistle stops” are covered rest breaks with restrooms. Unfortunately, we were nowhere near one when we got caught in a sudden rainstorm… but in this part of the country, you take rain jackets with you everywhere you go.
The start of the Tanglefoot is in New Albany, where it winds 44 miles south. New Albany has a vibrant, darling little downtown, but we made three mistakes: (1) it was a Sunday, (2) in Baptist country, (3) on Mothers Day. Meaning the entire town was closed up, with nearly everyone at church.
Regardless, there were lots of fun sights along the way.
And these small towns certainly know how to do murals!
The “sights” aren’t confined to the bike trail. No, we’ve seen lots of crazy sights here in Mississippi. Not passing judgment, but …….
We stayed at Howard Stafford Park in Pontotoc. This small city park had full hookups, plus a 43 acre lake for kayaking, and was a convenient equal distance to both New Albany and Tupelo. Another good option, closer to Tupelo, would be Tombigbee Lake State Park. We loved this part of Mississippi!
“Where are we going next, Dad? Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Great place to be re-married.