2019 Mar 16, 🚎Miracle Ride: Helen Keller in Living History Tuscumbia, Alabama

It was in the 40s this morning cloudy, and windy so I grabbed my big coat, and winter boots and joined a group of locals and out-of-towners. 

Everyone met at Coldwater Books and began boarding the trolley at 9:30AM 

The trolley was taking a group on a “Miracle Ride: Helen Keller in Living History 

Our guide told a fantastic story of Helen Keller, and her great-niece, Keller Johnson Thompson.

On the steps of Ivy Green, Mrs. Thompson told amazing stories of her great-aunt as we waited for a large group to finish their tour.

We toured the home and the many collections of Helen, her status, and the key she locked Annie Sullivan inside a closet. 

Helen Keller a girl who learned to communicate (WATER)

Older Helen Keller 

Outside the Keller Museum, we could see Cherry Trees were in full bloom and the gardens aglow with spring colors.

Cherry Trees @ Ivy Green in full bloom 

Tuscumbia’s Bicentennial Commission, Trolley Tour, and "Miracle Ride: Helen Keller in Living History", were awesome.

After the tour, I enjoyed soup, a lunch sandwich, and a slice of mile-high cheesecake. 

Mile high cheesecake 
Cream cheese pure vanilla, butter baked on a pecan & graham cracker crust! to die for!

An eating bowl full of Crawfish bisque 
1/2 turkey with smoked cheddar melted cheese and a tall glass of iced tea

I had a wonderful day, a bit cold but finished the day off with a hot bowl of Crawfish bisque.

2019 May 15, Day Trip Decatur's Historic & Parks Gardens 💐 🌷

Hubby and I had a great day. I was not sure if we were going anywhere because by 10AM it looked like rain but we decided to go anyway. 
We rode to Decatur stopping at Old Bank Park Garden took pictures of the garden.

Old Bank Street Park Garden 

Next, we rode to Frazier Park. (Never been to this park) I was surprised at how beautiful and serene. It had blooming Hydrangeas, and Magnolia trees were in bloom, as other shrubs, trees, and flowers along a running stream with a cross bridge. 

Frazier Park 

We rode over to Albany to Delano Rose Walk and the Children's Riverwild Playground, splash pad, and Garden. We had taken the grandkids to play in the park when they were small. The River Wild Garden Walkway was new to us. 

DragonFly 

River wild Park 

Toad Frog 

Swamp Rabbit 

Tortoise 

Delano Park Rose Garden

We loved the Frogs, Toads, Beavers, Fireflies, Turtles, butterflies, signs, and statues throughout the Garden. By the time we reached the Rose Garden, it had begun to sprinkle. A landscaper working in the garden, I said a little rain cannot hurt but he said I cannot get my work done in the rain. I kept on taking pictures but the rain got harder. I looked around and the gardener had disappeared, he had gone back to his truck to keep from getting wet. I started back to the car and the rain began to come down hard but I made it to the car before I got too wet. We rode to Huntsville to get the oil changed in our car by the time they finished the sun had come out, so we rode back to Decatur so I could finish taking pictures.

Pink Rose 

Entrance Way lined with Snow Queen Hydrangeas

We were getting hungry, and we did not eat lunch because we had stopped at the Shell Gas Station where they sell hot food and bought some corn fritters. Hubby had been wanting some. We also stopped at McDonald's for hot apple pie.
We ended up eating at Jack's on hwy 31 because we could not decide where to stop in Decatur. But that was okay because we both liked Jack's

From Mississippi to Memphis Miss US 61 South Haven, MS

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Miss US 61

From Mississippi to Memphis

The bright lights of Beale Street and the promise of musical stardom have lured blues musicians from nearby Mississippi since the early 1900s. Early Memphis blues luminaries who migrated from Mississippi include Gus Cannon, Furry Lewis, Jim Jackson, and Memphis Minnie. In the post-World War II era, many native Mississippians became blues, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll recording stars in Memphis, including Rufus Thomas, Junior Parker, B.B. King, and Elvis Presley.

B.B. King 

Elvis Presley 

From Mississippi to Memphis

From Mississippi to Memphis

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Memphis blues was discovered by the rest of the world largely via the works of Beale Street-based bandleader W. C. Handy, who began using blues motifs in his compositions shortly after encountering the music in the Mississippi Delta around 1903. By the 1920s many musicians from Mississippi had relocated here to perform in local theaters, cafes, and parks. The mix of rural and urban musical traditions and songs from traveling minstrel and medicine shows led to the creation of new blues styles, and record companies set up temporary studios at the Peabody Hotel and other locations to capture the sounds of Mississippians who came to town to record, such as Tommy Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt, as well as some who had settled in Memphis, including Robert Wilkins, Jim Jackson, Gus Cannon, Memphis Minnie, and Joe McCoy.

In the decade following World War II musicians from around the Mid South descended upon Memphis, and their interactions resulted in the revolutionary new sounds of R&B and rock ’n’ roll. Riley King arrived from Indianola and soon became known as the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to “B. B.” Many of King’s first performances were at talent shows at the Palace Theater, 324 Beale, co-hosted by Rufus Thomas, a native of Cayce, Mississippi, who, like King, later worked as a deejay at WDIA. King and Thomas were among the many Mississippi-born artists who recorded at Sam Phillips’s Memphis Recording Service, where Tupelo’s Elvis Presley made his historic first recordings for Phillips’s Sun label in 1954. The soul music era arrived with the Stax and Hi labels in the 1960s, and again many Mississippians were at the forefront: Stax’s roster included Little Milton, Albert King, Rufus Thomas, and Roebuck “Pops” Staples, while Hi producer and bandleader Willie Mitchell, a native of Ashland, oversaw recordings by soul and blues artists Otis Clay, Syl Johnson, Big Lucky Carter, Big Amos (Patton), and others with Mississippi roots.

WC Handy Statue on Beale St Memphis, TN 

The revitalization of Beale Street as an entertainment district, beginning in the 1980s, resulted in new performance venues for Mississippi natives including Daddy Mack Orr, Billy Gibson, and Dr. Feelgood Potts. The Mississippi-to-Memphis blues tradition has also been promoted by the Center for Southern Folklore, radio stations WEVL and WDIA, and labels including Inside Sounds, Icehouse, Memphis Archives, Ecko, and High Water. Mississippi has been well represented in the Memphis-based Blues Foundation’s International Blues Competition and Blues Music Awards (formerly W. C. Handy Awards), and thirteen of the first twenty artists inducted into the foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 were born or raised in Mississippi.

Brunswick Recording Company “Fourth and Beal” Cannon and Woods “The Beale Street Boys

Jim Jackson, Rufus Thompson (at microphone), and Furry Lewis (right)became Memphis music icons after moving here from Mississippi. They all settled in Memphis prior to 1820.

The Handy Sheet is from 1917.
In 2003 WC Handy awards, Sam Phillips with four of the Blues legends is recorded in the early 1950s. Seated, from let are Ike Turner, BB King and Little Milton (all natives of Mississippi). Standing with Phillips is Memphian Rosco Gordon. Phillips also recorded Little Junior Parker Howlin' Wolf, James Cotton, and Doctor Ross, among others Mississippi bluesmen.
Beal Street at night the late 1930s.
WC Handy Shown at a parade held in his honor here in 1953 came to Memphis form Clarksdale, MS. The park is a block north of this marker was renamed for him in 1931.




Ecko Records, founded by Mississippian John Ward in 1995 became a leader in the soul-blues market with releases by Mississippi natives including Ollie Nightingale Sheba Potts-Wright, Denise LaSalle, OB Buchana, David Brinston, and Lee "Shot" Williams.
High Water Records under the direction of Dr. Davis Evans at the University of Memphis documented more traditional blues.

Beal Street as it appeared in the summer of 1944.

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146489606/b.b.-king

🚙2016 November 29, Tuesday, Day Trip to Historic Lebanon, Tennessee

We traveled north on I-65 to I-840 to I-40 turning onto Cumberland Highway toward Lebanon. 

Our first stop was at the Cedar Grove Cemetery located at 406 S Maple Street in Lebanon. 

The cemetery had over 8,000 graves in it buried, several important people. 

Robert Allen Congressman 1778-1844 

Wm Bowen Campbell CW Union Brigadier General 1807-1867

Robert Looney Caruthers US Congressman 1800-1882

Edward Isaac Golladay US Congressman 1830-1897

Robert Hopkins Hatton CSA Confederate Brigadier General 1826-1862

Haywood Yancey Riddle US Congressman 1834-1879

Standing tall in the front of the cemetery we found Confederal General Robert Hatton and his wife Sophie's tombstone. 

Inscribed on the front of the tombstone was Confederate General Robert Hatton born on Nov 2, 1826, died on May 31, 1862, inscription While leading his Tennessee Brigade in the Battle of Seven Pines, Richmond, Va. 

Inscribed on the side of the same tombstone was Sophie Reilly Hatton wife of General Robert Hatton served as State Librarian of Tennessee for eight years, and founder of Associated Charities, Nashville Missionary in Japan for fifteen years. 

Relentless in her devotion to Christ and to the need for humanities.

She was as true as noble and as great as was her gallant husband. 

Organized as 7th TN INF. Hatton was appointed Colonel in command and was assigned to fight in the Army of Northern Virginia with General Robert E. Lee. He was promoted Brigadier General on May 23, 1863, and eight days later died at the Battle of Seven Pines Richmond, VA. 

His men went on to fight in every major battle in the war and when General E. Lee surrounded Appomattox Court House, only 47, men from the 7th Infantry were left. In 1912, a statue of General Hatton was erected on the square in Lebanon, TN in his honor. 

Cedar Grove Cemetery A Final Resting Place

Near the Confederate Statue and Confederate graves, we saw:

Cedar Grove Cemetery A Final Resting Place

The city of Lebanon purchased the land for this beautiful cemetery in 1846. Beneath its trees lie more than 150 soldiers who served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, including many Wilson County men who enlisted in the 7th Tennessee Infantry. The focal point of Cedar Grove Cemetery is the Confederate Monument, which was erected on July 27, 1899. The eighteen-foot-tall memorial features a statue of an infantryman standing with his rifle at parade rest. A large crowd gathered to hear Tennessee governor Benton Macmillan and several other speakers pay tribute to the qualities, struggles, and triumphs of Col. John K. Howard, Col. Sam G. Shepard, and Cape. A.K. Miller, all of the 7th Tennessee Infantry, all are interred here. James L. Barry of (Smith's) 4th Tennessee Cavalry, Tennessee's last surviving Confederate veteran, is buried here, as is Robert L. Caruthers, Confederate governor of Tennessee and a founded of Cumberland University Martha "Mattie" Ready, the widow of  Gen. John Hunt Morgan and their daughter, Johnnie, are buried in the cemetery. Nine men of

Morgan's 2nd Kentucky Cavalry who was killed on May 5, 1863, during the Battle of Lebanon also is buried here. The names of the Confederate soldiers buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery are etched on the sides of this memorial; others will be added as they are discovered. 

" A whole community will assemble around the stricken widow of our general [Hatton], and the mothers of the noble boys who fell by his side will mingle their tears with hers." Lt. Colonel John K. Howard, 7th Tennessee Infantry (CSA)

The Mill
The Mill at Lebanon is an adaptive reuse project converting the former Lebanon Woolen Mills into a mixed-use facility encompassing offices, restaurants, retail, event spaces, and other creative spaces. The Lebanon Woolen Mills began operation in 1908 and ceased operations in 1998. It has since been renovated and preserved and welcomes you to visit our very special space

Lebanon Station

Lebanon Station
Lebanon Station is the origination point for the Music City Star's East Corridor Regional Rail line. It is located at 334 W. Baddour Parkway. Early morning train service begins here and makes stops at the other stations along the route before arriving at Riverfront Station in downtown Nashville. Lebanon Station is located on an old factory site, which is bordered by Baddour Parkway, Greenwood Street, and Hill Street. Approximately 140 parking spaces are provided with direct access off Baddour Parkway.

On January 4, 2016, Cumberland University changed the nickname of its athletic program from "Bulldogs" to "Phoenix", stating that, "For more than 150 years, the Phoenix has personified the spirit of Cumberland University.

Neddy Jacobs Cabin 
Before 1870, the land that is now the Historic Lebanon Town Square was claimed by William Rodney. It was part of 640 acres surrounding the gushing spring, and here he built a cabin. After his death, the land was sold in 1793, by his heirs to James Menees. In 1801 the Tennessee State Legislature appointed five commissioners to determine the site for a County seat for Wilson County. They chose this site around the spring and cabin. When Lebanon was founded and lots were sold on August 16, 1802, one family was living in a cabin near the spring around which the town was laid out. Edward Neddy Jacobs and his Lumbee Indian wife had moved into the cabin in 1800. Needy, an Irishman who had shipwrecked off the coast of North Carolina, was taken in by the Lumbee Indians. There he met his wife Lyula, before moving westward to Tennessee. Neddy later built a new cabin for his family, but after his death, Lyula left and moved west with a band of Cherokees who passed through Lebanon on the Trail of Tears. 

Wilson County Courthouse
The first courthouse stood on the west side of the public square. The second was located in the center of the square. In 1848 the third, designed by William Strickland, was erected on this site which was Lot No. 2 (SW) of the Lebanon town lot plan of 1802, this building was replaced by a fourth when a new courthouse was built elsewhere. 

Historic Lebanon 

Historic Lebanon 

Historic Lebanon 

Historic Lebanon 

 Confederate General Robert Hatton of the 7th TN Infantry standing in the middle of the town square

Lebanon Morgan's Defeat
In April 1862, after the Battle of Shiloh, Confederate Col. John Hunt Morgan planned a raid through Tennessee and Kentucky to sever Union supply lines. Morgan let the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry from Corinth, Mississippi, into Tennessee and engaged with several Federal detachments, attracting the attention of Union Gen. Ebenezer Dumont, who quickly assembled a mounted force to intercept them.

After missing their quarry near Shelbyville, Dumont’s advance under Col. Frank L. Wolford finally caught up with Morgan’s rearguard on May 4 but broke off the action after inconclusive skirmishing. Satisfied that the Federals had retreated, Morgan continued to Lebanon, where his men bivouacked around the town square and in the buildings of Cumberland University. Heavy rain fell all night, so the Confederate pickets went inside to dry off near the fire.

The Federals were only four miles away, however, and at dawn, the hard-charging troopers of the 1st Kentucky (U.S.) and 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry burst into town and surprised Morgan’s command.

Alone Confederate sentry, Pvt. Pleasant Whitlow rode just ahead of the attackers and gave only a brief warning before he was shot down. Unable to reach the livery stables and mount, many defenders took cover, and fierce house-to-house fighting began. The Federals finally drove the overwhelmed Confederates out of town. In the running fight, Morgan and a handful of his men escaped to Carthage on the Rome Turnpike. Amid the confusion, Morgan lost his favorite horse, Black Bess. While Federal casualties were low, about 50 of Morgan’s men were killed, 150 were captured, and the remainder scattered throughout the countryside.

Battle of Lebanon 
 Near dawn on May 5, 1862, Colonel John Hunt Morgan’s 800 Confederate Cavalry camped around the Public Square and at Cumberland University on South College Street, were attacked by General Ebenezer Dumont’s Federal Cavalry of 600 as they advanced from Murfreesboro in torrential rain. After an hour and a half of charges and countercharges, Morgan and most of his men withdrew on the Rome and Trousdale Ferry Pikes pursued by the Federals. Barricaded in Odd Fellows Hall on West Main Street, 60 to 70 of Morgan’s men fired upon the Federals. Later these Confederates surrendered when Dumont threatened to burn the town. During the attack, the Federal losses amounted to 10 killed, 21 wounded, and 5 missings. The Confederate losses amounted to 60 killed and an unknown number of wounded and missing.

Lebanon Post Office 
In July 1908 Lebanon's growth and prominence qualified the town for free citywide mail delivery. Congressman Cordell Hull secured funding of $50,000 for this federal post office building. The cornerstone was laid on October 30, 1913. Chief Supervising Architect Oscar Wenderoth designed the Beaux-Arts style building and contractor James Corse completed construction in 1915. Pink and gray East Tennessee Marble adorn the interior walls and floors. In 1999 the National Park Service placed the Lebanon Post Office in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure in the Lebanon Commercial Historic District. 

Capitol Theater

Restoration of Pickett Chapel 
a project of the Wilson County Black History Committee
Funding Sources:
this work is being funded in part by The National Park Service US Department of the Interior: The Tennessee Historical Commission, The Wilson County Government, the City of Lebanon, and Numerous other Friends and Supporters.
Architect Melvin Gill & Associates, Nashville, TN in association with Preservation Architect: Michale Emrick, RA, Nashville, TN, Structural Engineer: Stanley D. Lindsey & Assoc., LTD Brentwood, Tn

Pickett Chapel 

3A Robert Looney Caruthers 1800-1882 200
Born in Smith County in 1800, Caruthers was elected Confederate Governor in 1863. However, due to the Federal occupation of Tennessee, he was not inaugurated. A co-founder of Cumberland University, he served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1835 to 1837; the U.S. House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843; the State Supreme Court from 1852-1861; and the Confederate Congress from 1861 to 1863. Built by Caruthers in 1828 in the Greek Revival style, but later altered, this was his home until he died in 1882.

3A Caruthers Hall 104
Cumberland University School of Law, 1847-1962, was housed at this site from 1877 until 1962. For many years it was the largest law school in the United States. Graduates included U.S. Supreme Court Justices Horace Lurton and Howell E. Jackson: Secretary of State Cordell Hull; ten governors, ten United States Senators; and seventy-five United States Representatives.

3A Judge Nathan Green Sr 103
This house was built by Judge Green, the father of equity jurisprudence in the state, who sat for twenty-one years in the Tennessee State Supreme Court. In 1852 he became a professor of Law at Cumberland University. Before settling in Lebanon, he served in the War of 1812, was a senator in the General Assembly in 1826, and held the post of chancellor of East Tennessee in 1827. Judge Green died here in 1866.

3A Castle Heights Military Academy 52
Castle Heights School was founded in 1902 by David E. Mitchell and I.W.P.  Buchanan. The early headmaster
was Buchanan, L.L. Rice, and O.N. Smith In 1914 the school became a military academy. Acquired by the McFadden Foundation in 1928, it has been an ROTC unit and an honor military school ever since 

Castle Heights Military Academy

The Mitchell House and Sigma Pi Fraternity International were founded in 1897

HISTORY OF THE MITCHELL HOUSE

Built-in 1910 as the home of Dr. David Mitchell and his family, the Mitchell House has also served as a school and office building.  Once the Mitchell family left the home, it sat dormant for several years before being purchased by Castle Heights Military Academy and used as the junior school from 1936 to 1986.

In 1998, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. purchased the Mitchell Home and began restoration. Cracker Barrel founder Danny Evins was a graduate of Castle Heights Military Academy and later served as chairman of its board of directors while his son attended the school. Evins and others wanted to return the establishment to its grandeur of the early 1900s.

Through the restoration efforts of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., the Mitchell House is listed as a historic landmark on both the State of Tennessee registry and the National Register of Historic Places. 

In Lebanon, we saw the Mitchel House, Castle Heights Military Academy, Cedar Grove Cemetery A Final Resting Place, The Mill, the restoration of Picketts Church, Lebanon Station, Cumberland University, Neddy Jacobs Cabin,  Judge Nathan Green Sr marker,  Robert Looney Caruthers 1800-1882  marker, Capitol Theater, Lebanon Post Office, battle of Lebanon, Lebanon Morgan's Defeat,  Confederate General Robert Hatton of the 7th TN Infantry standing in the middle of the town square and numerous of sites of Lebanon. 

🚙2010 ~Tuesday, May 18, Memphis, Tennessee

Today my husband and I rode to Memphis, Tennessee.

We left between 8:30-9 A.M.  

Stopped in Corinth, MS used the restroom and filled it up with gas.

We arrived in Germantown after stopping to take pictures of a Girl on a horse, which is to honor Germantown Charity Horse Show’s 60th Anniversary 1948-2008, a picture of A Blue Star Marker to honor the Armed Forces, by Germantown Garden Club, and a marker Listing the Mayor's Grove of Germantown from 1920-1994. 

Jockey rider

We then drove to Joe’s Crab Shack located at 7990 Horizon Circle Blvd Memphis, Tennessee. 

I ordered a Caesar salad and Seafood Fun-Do (a creamy fondue filled with shrimp, crawfish, spinach, and saluted mushrooms, topped with bead crumbs, Served with garlic bread for dipping) and a glass of unsweetened tea.

My husband ordered a Caesar salad, and he ate some of the Seafood Fun-do, sweet tea, Crabs in a bucket, with corn on the cob, and new potatoes. It costs 22.00 a bucket. We spent $42.00.

Our Hostest at Joe’s Crab Shack is located at 7990 Horizon Circle Blvd Memphis, Tennessee. 

 Joe’s Crab Shack is located at 7990 Horizon Circle Blvd Memphis, Tennessee. 

Crab legs, corn, and potatoes come in a bucket! This will put a smile on his face over time!

We then took I-40 over to Front Street, we went into the Welcome Center, where we got information about Memphis.

In the Welcome Center, we saw a statue of Elvis Presley and a statue of BB King  

Elvis Presley 

BB King

Monorail to Mud Island along the Mississippi River

We walked to the Monorail and paid $4.00 each to ride to Mud Island. 

The Monorail was located under the bridge that went to the Mississippi River.

(The monorail has a big wheel called a bull wheel. It pulls one continuous loop cable which moves the passenger cabins in opposite directions on separate tracks at the same time.)

We took the escalators down three stories to the ground level. 

We saw an inlaid map of the Mississippi River. I took pictures of the maps and markers of the Mississippi River from beginning to end. 

The river walk is a portrait of Old Man River in Miniature that winds 1,000 miles of Lower Mississippi.

The model portrays important features of the river and its floodplain, with an inlaid street map of each community along its banks. 

The river model is a jigsaw puzzle, made up of 1,746 pre-cast concrete panels, each weighing 8 1/2 tons. An average of 1,200,000 gallons of water flow through the system.

Information panels along the river wall tell the stories of people, places, and events along the lower Mississippi River. 

I took pictures of most of the information panels along the riverbank crossing back and forth over the riverbed. I said, "I have crossed the Mississippi River more times than most people cross in a lifetime. "

We walked over to the flying flags. 

There were flags from Tennessee, Great Britain, Spain, France, North Carolina, and the Confederate States of America each representing their involvement with the Mississippi River. 

Mud Island

Visiting Mud Island

Mississippi River and Bridge

Instead of going back up the Mississippi River, we went around towards the Amphitheater and back up the stairs to the Museum and we talked to one of the curators of the museum. 

I told the curator about how much I liked the River Walk. How we had crossed the Mississippi & Ohio in Paducah, KY, and the bridge in Cape Girado, and how much more interesting it was seeing in all layouts. She told us that the city had asked Bass Pro Show to use the Pyramid building because the building was empty and needed use. She also said that the city was going to help them get moved. 
She was very excited about having a Bass Pro Shop close by. We said goodbye and left the museum. We took the three flights of escalator to the monorail and rode it over to Front Street. 

We exited the Mud Island Monorail Building and walked toward Adams Avenue. We walked down Adams Avenue and I took pictures of the Fire House Museum, the Memphis Police Department (old building), the Shelby County Courthouse, statues and Markers, Calvary Protestant Episcopal church and Marker, St Peter Catholic Church and marker, the Eugene Magevney museum and marker, 1862 Post Office marker, (hiding under a tree), Forrest’s Early Home Marker, Christopher Columbus, statue, markers and Park. 

My husband waited while I walked down Adams Avenue taking pictures, I then met back up with him and we walked down North Main Street taking pictures of old buildings, the train trolley and I stopped a couple of young men to make sure we were headed in the right direction. 

The Trolley

Firehouse Museum 

 Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church

Christopher Columbus Statue

Firehouse Museum 

I took pictures of the Kress Building, Orpheum Theater, Peabody Place, FedEx forum, Gibson’s Music Store & showcase, and the Elvis Presley Plaza and Statue. 

Elvis Presley Plaza and Statue. 

I took several pictures of signs about Beale Street. “There were two types of culture, on Beale Street. The sinners and the saved, you had professionals, and business people and then you had those who worked to have some nightlife fun.”

We walked into the Gibson Music store I took pictures of a white, red, and blue piano a 20-foot guitar, and another 15-foot hard rock blue guitar.

We walked across the street to the Civic Center called the FedEx Forum where my husband took a picture of me sitting on a soccer ball. They had the font of their build lined along the street with soccer balls, basketballs, tennis balls, and baseballs. 

On Beale Street, we saw a statue of WC Handy, and Musicians playing in the Pepsi Pavilion.

We saw the Hard Rock Café, Wet Willies, Ida B. Wells Marker, Brown Zero Blues Club, Pee Wee Saloon Marker, Coyote Ugly Saloon, New Daisy Theater, Nat D. Williams Marker, Rufus Thomas Jr. Marker, Silky Sullivan’s Irish, A Schwab building, Hooks brothers Marker, Kings Palace Café, Benjamin Franklin Booth marker, and scores of other stores, displays, and sites. 

We headed back up North Main Street and we saw Peabody Place, Piggy Wiggly Marker, courtyard Marriott, carriage rides, and many buildings and sites.

Hard Rock Cafe Guitar

Fed-X 

Coyote Ugly

Daisy

Beal Street 

We took the train trolley back to Adams Avenue and walked back to the Welcome Center took a few more pictures and then headed toward Presley Avenue. We drove toward the airport and got turned around. We saw a FedEx airplane taxied off.

We finally found Graceland, my husband let me out of the car and I took pictures of Elvis's marker, the wall around his house, and the gate. Across the street, I took pictures of Elvis's jet from the road. 

We headed back down I-40 by now the work traffic was out so we had quite a long drive back. We finally got off I-40 onto 385 East and traffic was still heavy, we headed toward 72 East, and when we got on 72 East we headed toward Corinth about an hour's drive. This is a long drive because there is nothing to see except the road, and trees not much of anything else.

Wall at Graceland

Elvis Aaron Presley

We finally arrived in Corinth (I said to my husband that I was like the kids and said are we there yet, I was getting hungry after that long walk and it was getting late) we stopped at Burger King, where I ordered a Whopper Junior, diet coke and a slice of Hershey chocolate pie, my husband ordered a whopper, fries, and a piece of the pie. We rode another hour arriving at Best Buy in Florence. My husband went to talk to the Geek Squad about his computer. 

When we arrive home I put on my pajamas, turn on the TV, and crawl into bed. I was asleep in no time. 

The next day I uploaded my pictures to the computer, added a few to FB, and a few to Flickr. Our Internet was too slow to upload all my pictures (580) so I will add them later.