Essential Elvis.

Part recreation, part interpretation, the museum infuses an extensive collection of personal memorabilia with sight, sound and insight to steep the visitor in 1930s Tupelo, where work was hard, money far from plentiful, and yet where, for a boy genius, riches might be pulled right out of the air….from the gospel songs he sang with all his heart at Gladys’ Pentecostal church…from the seductive blues that sank into his soul as he wandered the streets of Shakerag, Tupelo’s now legendary African American community….from the foot-tapping rhythms he heard on WELO as he sat by the radio, listening to the Singin’ and Pickin’ Hillbilly show, starring the man who was his hero and who would become his mentor, Tupelo DJ Mississippi Slim.   It was Mississippi Slim who encouraged Elvis to make his first appearance at the Black and White Jamboree, a local amateur hour broadcast every Saturday from Tupelo’s Courthouse lawn.

There were other sounds in young Elvis’ Tupelo: train whistles piercing dark nights, the drone of garment factories in the daytime, when Gladys ran her sewing machine, and there were echoes, of the apocalyptic tornado that ripped through Tupelo only a year after Elvis’ birth. The museum offers a compelling story of a childhood marked by both the common and uncommon and destined for greatness.

Outside the museum, take a walk through the garden where a life-size statue, “Elvis at 13,” depicts the boy king at the moment when his circumstances were far from regal, when Vernon loaded the family and all their belongings into their car and headed for Memphis is search of better work.   The statue captures the easy grace and natural humility that were the hallmark of all of Elvis’ 42 years, and along the 42-block granite walkway, each of those extraordinary years is memorialized. For many visitors, the Story Wall, where 11 of Elvis’ childhood friends offer their personal reminiscences, is another special highlight.

Just as the Presleys hit the road, from the Birthplace it’s time for you to light out, in search of more Elvis—treasures you’ll find first on Tupelo’s self-guided driving tour.