Royally entertaining Tupelo.

Here is what it is: A tiny “shotgun” house built by Vernon Presley with his own hands.  Here is what it is not: What many people expect.

The Birthplace Encounter tends to take people by surprise. Face to face with this poetically spare structure, how, they wonder, could one of the largest talents of the 20th century come from a beginning so humble? 

The explanation—to the degree that any genius can be explained—can be found at the Elvis Museum, which like the Birthplace itself, is located in the 15-acre Birthplace center. The exhibit steeps visitors in the sites (and sights), sounds, and beliefs that shaped young Elvis. The gospel he absorbed from his mother’s Pentacostal church, the blues he soaked up from Shakerag, Tupelo’s now legendary African American community, the blue grass and country music he loved from hearing local celebrity DJ Mississippi Slim. Trains and garment factories, a deadly twister and a stillborn twin brother—cataclysmic events that helped shape an earth shaking talent.

Explore the statuary, “story wall” and commemorative walkway also at the center before you strike out on the self-guided Early Years Driving Tour that will take you to other important Elvis sites. At the Tupelo Hardware Store, listen to the sound of your steps across the wide plank floor, and see the glass case that held guitars on the day Elvis and Gladys came to buy his birthday gift. He wanted a shotgun; Gladys convinced him to get the guitar instead.

Before you leave Tupelo, be sure to see the old-fashioned diner that was once a Memphis streetcar, and now entertains visitors as one of the more than 3,000 artifacts dating back nearly 150 years, at the Oren Dunn City Museum. Other must-see museum attractions: the African American Historical and Cultural Society Museum, the World War II museum, and the Tupelo Automobile Museum. See the largest herd of buffalo east of the Mississippi River at the Tupelo Buffalo Park.

In nearby Baldwyn, you can roam at what Wikipedia calls “one of the most beautiful preserved battlefields of the Civil War.” The Battle of Brice’s Crossroads was a dramatic 11th hour victory for Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and the battlefield set amidst undeveloped land offers panoramic views and an authentic atmosphere, complemented by a first-rate interpretive center.

From the battleground, it’s back to the Trace, and on to higher ground.