Memphis – On the eastern banks of the Mississippi River, find a city famous for its music, history and food.
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River.
With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville.
Memphis is the fifth-most populous city in the Southeast, the nation’s 28th-most populous overall, as well as the largest city bordering the Mississippi River and third largest metropolitan statistical area behind Greater St. Louis and the Twin Cities on the Mississippi River.
The Memphis metropolitan area includes West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region, which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas, Mississippi and the Missouri Bootheel. O
ne of the more historic and culturally significant cities of the Southern United States, Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods.
A mile and a half away on the hotel terrace, you can visit the podium of the Masonic Lodge where, the night before his death, he gave one of the most brilliant and prescient speeches of all time, “I’ve reached my peak…” In the immediate aftermath of his death, there was social unrest across the country, but the spirit of Memphis was still alive and kicking.
As it always has been, the local community was comforted by the deepest convictions and unifying music that rocked the souls of the people in Memphis.
At the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Roll Music Museum, you can learn how the uplifting field songs and porch songs of sharecroppers around the Delta evolved into a new, emotionally charged music: the blues, and how in the 1950s, the blues gave birth to the freewheeling, bold music that became a very different branch of music: rock ‘n’ roll.
The museum is filled with wonderful artifacts, including Isaac Hayes’ breathtaking Super Fly Cadillac motorhome, the El Dorado, which never ceases to flaunt its shag carpet and 24-karat gold, and of course, the person who loves shag carpet and gold-encrusted Cadillacs most of all is Elvis Presley, who, in 1954, as a 19-year-old country boy, came to record at the Sun Studios. In 1954, the country-born 19-year-old came to the Sun Studio and recorded “That’s All Right Mama,” which changed the tide of the pop music world.
Three years later, Elvis Presley purchased Elegant Garden, a 13-acre estate on the outskirts of town, where you can tour the mansion where he lived for 20 years, and then go to the Garden of Contemplation to join fans from all over the world to see the place where he died, where everyone’s lives were profoundly impacted by the Tupelo boy. Across the street, at the Ivys Pearceley Memphis Exhibit, you can see everything about the life of Elvis Presley, from the vast array of gold records and jumpsuits that made him the biggest star of Hollywood, to his life’s work, his life’s work, and his life in the world. It’s a fascinating look at Elvis’ life and life in general, from his many gold records and jumpsuits as a Hollywood superstar to his lifelong love of fine automobiles, and it’s worth spending hours looking at each and every one of them.
Luckily, Memphis is also home to some of the nation’s finest hearty food and Southern barbecue.
From Memphis Avenue, you can follow the scent of the alleyway named after the restaurant that has made Memphis the barbecue capital of the country, much like the music of the city.
Like the city’s music, the menu at Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous was born out of a hard life of buying affordable ribs that were considered surplus to requirements in the 1950s.
Charlie’s combines the art of backyard cooking with a secret spice marinade, and today, the original underground restaurant serves up five tons of char-grilled, dry-marinated ribs a week, which is a marvel to behold. At the plain-looking Gus’s around the corner, you can join a crowd of diners from all over the world for a taste of delicious, flavorful food.
