Pelham, Alabama to Tupelo, Mississippi – 2 March 2024

We spent two days in Tupelo, Mississippi in the Tombigbee State Park along the shores of located on the shores of Lake Lee. It was a lovely campground – surrounded by trees, clean, spacious and other than the tweet of birds, very quiet. We took advantage of all the hiking trails in the park and went for a hike along one of the marked trails. It was also shared with mountain bikers so we had to be careful not to be in the way when we saw a biker coming towards us. The trail was contoured so we ended up walking backwards and forwards, each time at a higher level. Nevertheless it was very enjoyable and good to get out in the forest again.

After the hike we went to downtown to visit the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Elvis was born on January 8, 1935.  Tupelo offers “The Elvis Experience” which encompasses a visit to the house he was born in and lived for the first 3 years of his life, an Elvis museum and the first church he attended.  Elvis was a Twin to Jesse (brother) who unfortunately was stillborn. We were able to walk through his restored 2 roomed house,  furnished as it was when he lived there. After leaving the house, the family lived in various other houses in Tupelo until Elvis was thirteen when they decided to move to Memphis. Elvis was taught how to play guitar by the Father at his local Assembly of God church and his style of music was very much influenced by his strong gospel roots. We sat in the reconstructed church and watched a movie of what a typical church service would have been like when Elvis and his family attended services. The original pulpit still stands in the church. A timeline of major events in Elvis’ life were outlined in a scored concrete circle surrounding his birthplace. Each granite block denoted major events in Elvis’ life from 1935 to 1977. A small memorial chapel was built to honour his memory and there was also a theatre showing movies of his life, a museum with memorabilia, several statues, a reflecting pond, fountain and gift store.  A 1939 green Plymouth sedan stood outside the museum – a replica of the car that the Presley family drove when leaving Tupelo headed for Memphis. I loved visiting here and found it a very interesting.