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Memphis, Tennessee Vacations, Luxury Hotels and Memphis Experiential Travel Packages
Memphis City Photo
Why do people all over the world know Memphis, Tennessee as simply ‘Memphis’? It’s all the things you know about and all the things you don’t— the A-side hits of our world-famous attractions and the flip-side of funky shops, back-alley barbecue joints and the music and nightlife of Beale Street.
It’s our eclectic mix of 5-star to down home restaurants, upscale Memphis hotels, designer malls and quirky downtown Memphis shops. It’s the legendary history, blues, rock n’ roll and pure soul that make the city of Memphis, TN (aka ‘The River City’, aka ‘Memphis’) funky, fun and fresh.
Memphis is a city in the southwest corner of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River.
As of 2007, Memphis had an estimated population of 674,028, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee, the second largest in the Southeastern United States, and the 18th largest in the United States.
The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, has a population of 1,260,581. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville, which only overtook Memphis in recent years.
Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's four major cities (traditionally including Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville). A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as the "Mid-South."
Memphis Early history
A Mississippian era priest (Digital illustration, 2004)The Memphis area was first settled by the Mississippian Culture and then by the Chickasaw Indian tribe. European exploration came years later, with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and French explorers led by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.[4]
The land comprising present-day Memphis remained in a largely unorganized territory throughout most of the 18th century. By 1796, the community was the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee.
Memphis 19th Century
Memphis was founded in 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson. The city was named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River. Memphis developed as a transportation center in the 19th century because of its flood-free location, high above the Mississippi River.
As the cotton economy of the antebellum South depended on the forced labor of large numbers of African-American slaves, Memphis became a major slave market. In 1857, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was completed, the only East-West railroad across the southern states prior to the Civil War.
Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861 and Memphis briefly became a Confederate stronghold. Union forces captured Memphis in the Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city remained under Union control for the duration of the war. Memphis became a Union supply base and continued to prosper throughout the war.
In the 1870s a series of yellow fever epidemics hit the city. The worst outbreak, in 1878, reduced the population by nearly 75% as many people died or fled the city permanently.
Memphis 20th century
Cotton merchants on Union Avenue (1937)Memphis grew into the world's largest spot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market. Into the 1950s, it was the world's largest mule market.
From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a hotbed of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump. During the Crump era, Memphis developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the national City Beautiful Movement.
During the 1960s the city was at the center of civil rights issues, notably the location of a sanitation workers' strike. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel.
Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American south. Many renowned musicians grew up in and around the Memphis and northern Mississippi area. These included such musical greats as Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, W.C. Handy, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. Jones, and Al Green.
Museums and Art Collections
Many museums of interest are located in Memphis.
Lorraine Motel in Memphis (2005)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis (2008)National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum is located in the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. It includes a historical overview of the American civil rights movement.
Brooks Museum of Art
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest fine art museum in the state of Tennessee.[22] The Brooks' permanent collection includes works from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque eras to British, French Impressionists, and 20th-century artists.
Graceland
Graceland, the former home of Rock 'n' Roll legend Elvis Presley, is one of the most visited houses in the United States (second only to the White House), attracting over 600,000 domestic and international visitors a year. Featured at Graceland are two of Presley's private airplanes, his extensive automobile and motorcycle collection and other Elvis memorabilia. On November 7, 1991 Graceland was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Pink Palace
The Pink Palace Museum, serves as the Mid-South's major science and historical museum, and features exhibits ranging from archeology to chemistry. It includes America's third largest planetarium and an IMAX Theatre. One exhibit features a replica of the original Piggly Wiggly store, the first self-service grocery store, commemorating the invention of the supermarket by Memphian Clarence Saunders in 1916.
Memphis Walk of Fame
The Memphis Walk of Fame is a public exhibit located in the Beale Street historic district, which is modelled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but is designated exclusively for Memphis musicians, singers, writers, and composers. Honorees include W. C. Handy, B. B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, and Alberta Hunter among others.
Mud Island River Park
Mud Island River Park and Mississippi River Museum is located on Mud Island in downtown Memphis. The Park is noted for its River Walk. The River walk is a 2112:1 scale working model showing 1000 mi (1600 km) of the Lower Mississippi River, from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. 30 in (75 cm) in the model equal 1 mi (1.6 km) of the Mississippi River. The Walk stretches roughly 0.5 mi (800 m), allowing visitors to walk in the water and see models of cities and bridges along the way.
Victorian Village
Victorian Village is a historic district of Memphis featuring a series of fine Victorian-era mansions, some of which are open to the public as museums.
Cotton Museum
The Cotton Museum is a museum that opened in March 2006 on the old trading floor of the Memphis Cotton Exchange at 65 Union Avenue in downtown Memphis.
Memphis Parks
Memphis National Cemetery (2006)Major Memphis parks include W.C. Handy Park, Tom Lee Park, Audubon Park, Overton Park including the Old Forest Arboretum of Overton Park, the Lichterman Nature Center - a nature learning center, and the Memphis Botanic Garden.
Shelby Farms park, located at the eastern edge of the city, is one of the largest urban parks in America.
Cemeteries
The Memphis National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in north Memphis.
Historic Elmwood Cemetery is one of the first rural garden cemeteries in the South, and contains the Carlisle S. Page Arboretum.
Other points of interest in Memphis
Pyramid Arena (2006)Beale Street
Blues fans can visit Beale Street, where a young B.B. King used to play his guitar. He occasionally still appears there at the club bearing his name, which he partially owns. Street performers play live music, and bars and clubs feature live entertainment around the clock. In 2008, Beale Street is the most visited tourist attraction in the state of Tennessee.
Sun Studio
Sun Studio was where Elvis Presley first recorded "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". Other famous musicians who got their start at Sun include Johnny Cash, Rufus Thomas, Charlie Rich, Howlin' Wolf, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Memphis Zoo
The Memphis Zoo, which is located in midtown Memphis, features many exhibits of mammals, birds, fish, and amphibians from all over the world.
Other
Other Memphis attractions include the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, the FedExForum and Mississippi riverboat cruises.
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www.memphistn.gov
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