Monday, May 28, 2012

Movie and the Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum

After spending all day watching races yesterday, I was ready to go anywhere.  Bob went down to the office to see if there was anything we hadn't seen around Red Bay.  He came back empty handed.  So I suggested a movie.  Well, the closest movie was 38 miles away and it was a drive-in.  I expanded my search and in the next state, Mississippi, and an hour away in Tupelo, Mississippi was a movie theater.  Of the choices available, Men in Black 3, was what I felt was our best option.  Bob reminded me that Elvis Presley's Birthplace was Tupelo, Mississippi, but we thought it would probably be closed since it was a holiday. So about 10:00 am we took off for Tupelo.


All along the streets of Tupelo were  these guitars, each a little different in design. With a little help from a pedestrian, we were able to find the movie theater and we enjoyed the movie.  I checked with Yelp's and we headed to Bar-B-Q by Jim Lic for lunch.  I thought it was OK, Bob thought it was really good. Of course, Bob loves BBQ.  We decided to drive by Elvis' Birthplace, to see what we could see even if it was closed.


We saw people walking around the grounds, so we decided to park.  To our surprise the museum was open. The museum told about Elvis' childhood.


We learned that Gladys Love was 21 years old when she married Vernon who was 17.  We also learned that Vernon Presley, Elvis' dad went to jail for writing a bad check.

Elvis was influenced musically by church music, blues, and country music.


Some of Elvis' outfits were on display.

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 Vernon Presley, Elvis' father, with help from Jessie, his father and Vester, his brother, built this home in 1934 with $180 that Vernon borrowed from his employer.  Elvis Aaron Presley was born in this house, on January 8, 1935.  Elvis was one of two children born to Vernon and Gladys.  Elvis' identical twin, Jessie Garon, was stillborn.


Around the home is a scored concrete circle, that contains dated granite blocks denoting each year of Elvis' life from 1935, his birth, to 1977, his death.


A statue of Elvis at 13 years old done in bronze is positioned with the chapel on his right and the museum to his left symbolizing the strong spiritual values he learned in Tupelo and the challenge of materialism he would eventually face in Memphis.  Dedicated in August 2002.


We saw a presentation at Elvis' Childhood Church.  They had a film that depicted a Sunday night service that Elvis and his family would have attended.  This was the church he attended, which was moved  and placed here from it's original site on Adams St.

















Notice this is an Assembly of God church.  Bob and I are members of an Assembly of God church.  The furniture inside the church is similar to what would have been in the church originally.  The pulpit is the originally pulpit.


Elvis dreamed of having a place of meditation at the Elvis Presley Birthplace Park.  Before his death, he shared that dream with friend Janelle McComb who envisioned  adding a chapel to the Park. These flowers are in the entryway.



The chapel was designed by Johnson and McCarty Architects, a Tupelo firm, and was dedicated in 1979.  Laukhuff Studios in Memphis designed the stained glass windows specifically for the Elvis Presley Chapel.


A Fountain of Life illustrating the 13 years Elvis' lived in Tupelo.


This 1939 green Plymouth sedan is a replica of the car that the Presley family drove when leaving Tupelo headed for Memphis where Elvis made his transformation into the word's greatest entertainer.


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