Four Points Bulletin

Our southern trip wasn’t meant to be an Elvis Presley pilgrimage, but it is certainly morphing into one. Knowing we are going to Graceland in a few days we started our homage to Elvis in the city where he was born, Tupelo, MS. (Tupelo is pronounced by emphasizing the first syllable.) Elvis’ father borrowed $180 from his boss to construct the two room home, knowing his wife was pregnant. Elvis was born in this house in 1935 and raised here for the first few years. Although his parents had hard times during the depression and were not able to keep it, Elvis came back to Tupelo to do a concert, at what is now Tupelo Fairpark, to raise money to buy his childhood home and create the Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum. Eleven years earlier, at the same park where thousands of fans screamed and cried for Elvis, he won 5th place at a talent show. At the Elvis Presley Birthplace he had the church that grew his love for gospel moved onto the premises. Lawhon School, where Elvis attended elementary, is just a few blocks away, as is his favorite diner, Johnnie’s Drive In (the oldest restaurant in Tupleo). Following the along the Elvis Guitar Trail we stopped into Tupelo Hardware Co, where Elvis’ mom bought his first guitar (even though he wanted a 22 rifle). We are learning a lot about the man who revolutionized rock and roll. It is as much a rags to riches story as any fairy tale. Elvis became a king.