MARVELOUS MEMPHIS

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If you ask the folks in our headquarters their favorite embarkation city, we have to admit the answer is going to be a bit biased. We make our home in Memphis, the American Queen was named by Priscilla Presley at the foot of Beale Street a few blocks from the office, and many of our team (both aboard the boat and shoreside), were born and raised in Memphis. We live in a special place and we know it. And we’re always eager to share it with our guests.

In the past, we’ve written about the many things to do while in Memphis, from visiting Elvis Presley’s Graceland to popping into a blues club on Beale Street for some authentic, mouth-watering barbecue served with a side of toe-tappin’ tunes. But Memphis has a rich history that goes far deeper than these more recent developments. In fact, Memphis is a city whose very identity is tied to the river. Long before it became the home of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, Memphis was the King of Cotton. The city was founded in 1818 and, in a nod to its expected importance on the Mississippi River, was named after the Nile River’s ancient capital of Egypt. With cotton plantations throughout the south, Memphis quickly became an important hub for cotton that was shipped north to the country’s heartland and south to New Orleans to be loaded on ocean-going ships for transport to the coast and for export.

The area thrived as a Chickasaw settlement 10,000 years prior to the arrival of explorers and colonists. Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas was built in 1795 by the Spanish governor of Louisiana but abandoned only two years later. By 1796, what was to be the future site of Memphis was part of the new state of Tennessee.

In June of 1861, Tennessee seceded from the United States but its independence didn’t last long. Union forces bested Confederate soldiers on June 6, 1862 in a fierce naval engagement known as the Battle of Memphis. The Confederacy was never able to regain control of Memphis, despite constant attacks by General Nathan Bedford Forrest. In the closing days of the war, the Mississippi River just north of the city was the site of the worst disaster in American maritime history. The steamboat Sultana, grossly overloaded with prisoners of war, exploded and sank, taking with it more than 1,500 souls.

Although Graceland outside Memphis was the home to Elvis Pressley and jazz and blues artists soon made Beale Street a mecca for music lovers, the 1960s found the city at the epicenter of the civil rights movement when Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

But Memphis was also the epicenter of riverboating history and an important hub for both freight and passengers back in the heyday of riverboats in the 19th century. That is why the American Queen Steamboat Company chose Memphis as the location to christen the American Queen. More recent history is why we chose Priscilla Presley as her godmother. Presley, who is synonymous with Graceland, named her in a christening ceremony at the revitalized Beale Street Landing. It’s been more than a year since that wonderful day, but it seems as if it were yesterday.

A daughter of an Air Force officer, Priscilla Presley attended high school in Germany, where she met her future husband, Elvis Presley. In 1979 she became co-executor of the Presley Estate, growing it from a burgeoning entity into a phenomenally successful organization consisting of the famous Graceland Mansion, a worldwide licensing program, merchandising, music publishing, television and video projects.

She also is an ambassador of the Dream Foundation, helping to fulfill the dreams of adults battling terminal illnesses and the only organization of its kind working with adults. Priscilla has also joined Hollywood celebrities in an important fight against the overmedication of children. She is an advocate for Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights and a percentage of all purchases on PriscillaPresley.com are donated to support these two worthy charities.

Priscilla Presley’s efforts leading Elvis Presley Enterprises exemplify both grace and dignity, two adjectives befitting the American Queen. Both are stunning ambassadors to Memphis and the American Queen Steamboat Company was humbled to bring our riverboat family and the Presley family together.

As you can tell, we’re proud of our city, its history and our ties to one of its most famous, and generous, citizens. We invite you to explore marvelous Memphis on one of our voyages. We would be honored to have you as our guest.