GRACELAND

[HostDave]

Memphis is our home. When the American Queen Steamboat Company was founded, we did a long search to decide where to place our corporate headquarters. Many cities were in the running, ranging from Louisville to New Orleans, and while all are fabulous destinations, only one felt like home. Memphis has that special something that welcomes people as if they’re family and a true personality that makes it difficult to believe you could be anyplace else when you walk along Beale Street to the sounds of the blues and the scent of barbecued ribs drifting on the breeze.

Our guests feel the same way so it is somewhat ironic that one of the biggest draws of Memphis isn’t actually in the heart of the city itself. You don’t have to be a music fan to know who Elvis Presley was and you don’t have to be an Elvis fan to know what Graceland is. We find that a great many guests enjoying our complimentary pre-cruise one-night deluxe hotel stay that is included in their cruise fare make a beeline for Elvis’ estate. Those guests who are on a voyage that concludes in Memphis often visit Graceland before heading home as well.

Graceland is an iconic Memphis area destination, although it is technically located about 10 miles south of downtown in an area known as Whitehaven. Elvis Presley was a legend but there is something about his former home that embraces his bigger-than-life persona in a way that makes it seem as if he is still with us. Perhaps that is why people flock to Graceland from all over the world.

Contrary to popular belief, Graceland was not built for Elvis Presley. The 13.8-acre estate was once part of Graceland Farms and owned by a Memphis printing tycoon named S.C. Toof. His daughter was named Grace and became the inspiration for the name but it was Grace’s niece who built the Colonial Revival-style white-columned mansion in 1939. Thanks to Elvis, today it is a museum and in 2006 was declared a National Historic Landmark. Few, if any, singers have had their homes awarded such a distinction.

Elvis lived at Graceland for 20 years and died there on August 16, 1977. Elvis, his parents and his grandmother are all buried on Graceland’s grounds in a spot called the Meditation Garden. Non-Elvis fans may not know that the garden also honors Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis’ twin brother who died at birth. The 1939 mansion is built of tan limestone and features a total of 23 rooms, including 8 bathrooms and an equal number of bedrooms. It is a big house that started out at 10,000 square feet but after a number of modifications reached 17,000 square feet. Despite its grandiose pretensions, it still feels like a home. Elvis put his mark on the property as well, adding a swimming pool, racquetball court, a stone wall around the entire property, a wrought iron gate with musical notes welded to it and the Jungle Room, a famed spot featuring an indoor waterfall. In the Jungle Room, Elvis even recorded most of his last two albums after the room was renovated into a recording studio.

The beauty of Graceland is its lack of refinement. Elvis was a southern boy who made good and his home reflected his humble beginnings. Some have pointed out that Graceland is not an elegant representation of a Southern estate but rather a chaotic mix of anything and everything that caught Elvis’ eye. Interior decorators are hard-pressed to find any kind words. Some critics have compared it to a brothel in its aesthetic sensibilities. But that, of course, is the true beauty of Graceland. Elvis’ stamp is all over it. Elvis did more than live at Graceland. Elvis was Graceland.

Elvis was part of Graceland from 1957 when he purchased it for roughly $100,000 until his death in 1977 and was joined there by his new wife, Priscilla, in 1967 who stayed for five years until the marriage dissolved. As his fame grew, Graceland became Elvis’ only safe retreat from the world and became the headquarters for all career decision-making and many business meetings. Inside Graceland, Elvis felt safe. Even when he went on tour in his later years, he would insist that hotel rooms be reconfigured to mirror familiar spaces at Graceland and he would ship furniture from home to complete the illusion.

When home, Elvis made certain that Graceland was stocked with all the essentials: peanut butter, bananas, bacon, Pepsi, biscuits, sauerkraut, brownies, meat loaf ingredients, fudge cookies and cigarettes.

Five years after he died, Priscilla Presley opened the home as a museum and is now the chairwoman of Elvis Presley Enterprises which is today worth more than $100 million. Of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Graceland each year, many view their time at Graceland as something akin to a pilgrimage. Visitors not only get to see the inside of Graceland mansion, but also tour a museum containing items such as gold records, awards, his private jets (one of which is a four-engined airliner), an auto collection and, of course, his famous Las Vegas-era jumpsuits.

Touring Graceland, its museums and its grounds is an experience shared by a number of American Queen Steamboat Company guests. Though it was once in a rural area, urban sprawl has embraced the estate which sits across the street from a shopping center. Elvis is forever associated with both Memphis and Graceland and it seems somewhat appropriate that today his former country estate is now part of the city that Elvis loved. It is also a city that we love and is an embarkation or debarkation port for a number of our most popular voyages. Memphis is a port of key importance on our Lower Mississippi River cruises and we invite you to join us this fall on one of these voyages. Soak in the history and atmosphere of Graceland before or after you riverboat adventure on the American Queen as two of the South’s greatest traditions meet.