Sites to See: Graceland - Memphis, TN

(The resting place of Elvis Presley & family at Graceland)

Heading to Tennessee? Dirt Cheap Travel Blog highly recommends you take a tour of the Graceland Mansion and surrounding attractions. The Graceland Mansion is the home and final resting place of Elvis Presley, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The King was one of the Rock & Roll genre & music's great contributors since the late 40's, early 50's.

Graceland is a 13.8-acre (56,000 m2) estate and large white-columned mansion that once belonged to Elvis Presley, located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee. There's several great tours available of the mansion as well as Elvis' airplanes, military items and an automobile museum. A guided audio tour is given with headsets so visitors can learn more about Elvis and each attraction.

History and interesting Graceland facts:

- Graceland was founded in 1939 by S.E. Toof, a publisher of a Memphis newspaper. Toof named it after his daughter Grace who later inherited the farm. Later still, the land was given to a neice and her husband (Ruth and Thomas Moore) who turned it into its present colonial-style mansion.

- Elvis bought Graceland in 1957 for an estimated $100,000. The singer/musician was just 22 years of age. Elvis vacated his other residence due to privacy and security issues, and neighbor complaints about the hysteria of adoring fans coming around.

- At one point Elvis' father and mother lived on the premises with him. His mother passed away n 1958, and his father remarried. Elvis' wife Priscilla lived at Graceland for 5 years before the couple was married in 1967. Five years after their marriage, they separated and Priscilla left in 72'.



- Elivs died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom of Graceland upstairs. The cause of death has been a conflicting point, with some saying it was due to possible anaphylactic shock from codeine pills a dentist had prescribed. The popular cause of death many people know of is an alleged heart-attack.

- Every year on the anniversary of Elvis' death, a large procession goes through the mansion and past Elvis' grave site. In 1997, on the 20th anniversary of Elvis' death, there was an estimated crowd of 50,000 people who visited the area for "Elvis Week".

- Famous visitors to Graceland have included US President George W. Bush who hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2006, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who unveiled a special race car with his grandmother in 2007.

- Upon entering Graceland, visitors will see a splendid white staircase. The top of the staircase is sealed off to the public as it contains the bathroom where Elvis Presley died in 1977.

- The tour of Graceland lets visitors see the Living Room, Music Room, Elvis' parents' room, dining room, kitchen, Trophy Room, Jungle Room, Shooting Range, Car port and Meditation Garden, among other sites. All sorts of intricate designs and sculptures/portraits can be seen within the mansion and surrounding areas.

- Graceland has an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 visitors each year. There are currently plans in the works to turn Graceland into a bigger site, utilizing the surrounding areas to showcase more of Elvis' personal items, and allow for a more complete Elvis Presley experience.

- Visitors to Graceland can also go inside two private planes that Elvis once used for transportation. There is the Lisa Marie (a Convair 880 named for Elvis' daughter) and the smaller Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar) on display.

- In 2006, Graceland was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks which also include the White House, the Alamo, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Dealey Plaza, and Mount Vernon.



- The public can take tours of the Graceland mansion as well as an Elvis Automobile museum, Private Presley (a tribute to Elvis' military items) and two of Elvis' private planes. Flash photography and video cameras are not allowed, but regular picture-taking is allowed (non-flash). For more info about Graceland, see the official Elvis Presley site.

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