Tupelo, Mississippi. Birthplace of Elvis

U.S. highway 78 runs from Memphis to Birmingham.  Not quite halfway to Birmingham lies the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, with a population of about 35,000.  Tupelo took on a significance beyond its size in 1935 when Vernon and Gladys Presley became the parents of Elvis Presley.


Naturally, there is a tourist museum dedicated to "the king."  While it certainly isn't as significant as Graceland, it preserves the small two room Presley home and the Pentacostal church where Elvis attended services with his parents and picked up the gospel influence in his music.


This is one of the stops on the Mississippi Blues Trail.  Mississippi has recently worked pretty hard at noting many of the significant blues-related sites in the state.  This article from the U.K. Independent notes a few of them.  Interestingly, there is a free Blues Trail App for your iPhone or iPad to help locate the sites.  If you are passing through Mississippi, be sure to download it.


We also found a good barbeque restaurant in Tupelo.  It's located downtown close to the Bus Depot and has quite a bit of Presley related posters and clippings hanging on the walls.