Memphis for Free - Part 2

When we started writing about all the free things we found to do during our stay near Memphis, we realized there was too much to fill one blog. So we'll cover some more attractions we found during our three-day stay.

The biggest of all attractions in Memphis is Graceland--the home of the King of Rock and Roll. But we really couldn't justify the $40 per person it was going to cost to take the least expensive tour through the Presley house. The prices go up from there if you add the tour through the cars, airplanes, and other memorabilia. But Mark read that there is an obscure Tennessee law that requires the public to have access to burial sites for free. So every day from 7:30-8:30 a.m. the doors of Graceland are open without admission charge. We got there a few minutes early when the gates were still closed.

While we waited, we could see that thousands of fans had left messages on the rock walls surrounding the family residence.

Fans with white markers also found a way to leave messages on the bricks.

Right on time, the gates were opened and our group of twenty or so was allowed to walk right by the Presley mansion. It was early enough that the outside was still lit up, and the grounds crew was readying the property for the day's visitors.

In fact, the sun was just rising over the swimming pool as we walked by it.

The swimming pool is right beside the family burial plot. We were glad to see that the biggest statue was not of a famous singer, but of a more famous Savior.

Elvis's grave is in the center of the burial plot, with an eternal flame that was added later by some of his fans. People continue to bring memorials and gifts when they visit the grave site, and we watched our companions leave items this morning. We spoke with a volunteer who comes every morning at this time to freshen the flowers that fans have brought.

Elvis is surrounded by family members in this small burial plot. On the left is his paternal grandmother, Minnie Mae. On the right are his parents--Vernon Elvis and Gladys Love Presley.

The last tiny grave is of Elvis Presley's twin brother--Jessie Garon. This baby was still-born, and we had forgotten that Elvis was a twin.

We could also see the racquetball court in the backyard. Now it serves as a museum for the awards that Elvis has received. Of course we couldn't go inside any of the buildings, but it still felt like we got a nice brush with Graceland this morning.

We've heard that Graceland is beautiful when it is decorated for Christmas. The nativity set is already in place, and we were glad to see that it was placed in front of the family home.

Besides the expensive tickets to see Graceland, there is also a $10 fee for parking. Mark read that there are plenty of parking places this early in an adjacent shopping center, so we didn't have to pay that charge either. While we were parked there, we also wandered over to the brand new Graceland Resort.

The grand opening was just last Thursday, and so this was their first week to have guests. We tried out the over-sized lobby furniture that made Denisa feel like she was a little girl since her feet couldn't reach the floor in any of the chairs.

There were several groups meeting in the convention wing of the hotel. We saw monitors in the hallways, with information posted about meetings and groups. We had to giggle when we saw the display was upside down on one of the monitors. It looks like they haven't gotten out all the kinks yet in this new resort.

We then decided to walk up the hill to where the famous Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel stands. We were surprised to see that it was closed, and is slated for demolition. In fact, we spoke with two women that had reservations to stay there this week. They got the news that their reservations had been moved to the new resort--with a significant upcharge too.

One of the other Memphis icons is Beale Street--the home of the Blues. Even though we were told by several sources that it was perfectly safe at night, we preferred to visit here during the afternoon.

Thirty years ago this famous building was destroyed by fire, and the back three walls fell in. The ornate front wall was preserved, with plans to build a hotel behind it. Metal buttresses were added to temporarily support the wall until an investor stepped forward with the money to build the rest of the structure. The money never arrived, and now those temporary metal supports have become a part of the quirky Beale Street landscape. 

By the middle of the afternoon, several of the bars and pubs had live music playing that was spilling out onto the street. There are several retail stores along this section of Beale Street, but none more famous than the Schwab General Store.

The Schwab store has been around since 1876, and they have a free museum on its second floor. It was here that we met George, a great source of information about visiting Memphis. So visiting Beale Street can be an interesting experience that is also free, if you can avoid the old-time soda fountain at Schwab's.

From there, we walked down the street to the FedEx Forum, home to the Memphis Grizzlies professional basketball team. There was a game that evening, so we knew we wanted to be out of this area before the game crowd arrived.

We liked the line of balls that serve as the entry to the FedEx Forum Plaza.

The Grizzly basketball team is a big part of downtown Memphis, and it looks like they also give back to the community for their support. Along the river front is an exercise path that is sponsored by the Grizzlies. Each exercise station has instructions for the proper way to work your muscles there. Denisa tried out the rope exercise, and her arms and shoulders were sore the next day. When she tried to work the larger ropes, she could hardly pick them up.

Just across the street from the basketball arena is another thing Memphis is famous for--Gibson guitars. It's fun to visit the lobby to see these over-sized models. We are talking about the guitars--not Mark!

There is a factory tour, but they charge $10 each for a ticket and they request you make reservations. On the spur of the moment we just visited the retail store. There are rows and rows of Gibson guitars ready to become someone's favorite musical instrument for an investment of several thousand dollars.

They also had some custom guitars with larger price tags. This one cost over $25,000.

We also discovered that several of the attractions are free on Tuesday afternoon. One of those is the Pink Palace Museum. This palace was built by Clarence Saunders, the founder of Piggly Wiggly Grocery stores. 

In the 1910's he envisioned a totally new way to shop for groceries. Up to that time, clerks stood behind a counter and fetched every item on a shopper's list for them, so it took a lot of manpower to run a grocery store. Instead, Mr. Saunders allowed customers to enter through a turn-stile and get their own items from the shelves. He needed only one employee to stock the shelves, and one to ring up the purchases, and people flocked to his store because it was faster for them. In the museum was a model of the first Piggly Wiggly, complete with cans and prices appropriate for that era.

But alas, in spite of his riches, Mr. Saunders was not accepted into Memphis's high society. So he built the Pink Palace just to spite them and make their homes look small. He included new-fangled things like a bowling alley and indoor pool. As good as Mr. Saunders was at coming up with innovative business ideas, he wasn't good at managing his money. He would go into bankruptcy before the house was completed, and never got to live in the Pink Palace. Alas, the palace was closed the week we were in Memphis for some renovation, so we didn't get to see it either. But we did get to tour the adjoining museum. The first floor was filled with natural wonders like beautiful gems and good information on the animals of Tennessee.

The second floor is a cultural museum, with great displays on Tennessee history. We especially liked the civil war information, and Mark was impressed with the length of the shotgun hung across the top of the display.

There is a nature center that is free on Tuesday afternoon as well, but we didn't have time to get there. The Memphis Zoo is free on Tuesday afternoons, but they strictly follow the rule that you must have a Tennessee driver's license to get in for free--because we tried.

So we have had a good time finding things to do for free in Memphis. It's almost like an easter egg hunt to uncover what a new city has to offer. We've been blessed with a beautiful stretch of fall weather, and now we were ready to head down the road to new adventures--equally as freeing!