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, there are so many things to do in Memphis, Tennessee, the
A-side hits of world-famous Memphis tourist attractions and the
flip-side of funky shops, back-alley barbecue joints and the music and
nightlife of Beale Street. 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, funky, fun and fresh.Aside from one of the best celebrity home tours east of the Mississippi, there are many other great Memphis tourist attractions to experience like the ones below. Be sure to include them as you make your Memphis sightseeing plans. Before we informs the tourist attraction in Memphis, Tennessee, let we informs how the city itself.
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers. Memphis is located in southwestern Tennessee at 35°7′3″N 89°58′16″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 324.0 square miles (839.2 km2), of which 315.1 square miles (816.0 km2) is land and 9.0 square miles (23.2 km2), or 2.76%, is water. Memphis has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with four distinct seasons, and is located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8. Winter weather comes alternately from the upper Great Plains and the Gulf of Mexico, leading to drastic swings in temperature. Summer weather may come from Texas (very hot and humid) or the Gulf (hot and very humid). July has a daily average temperature of 82.7 °F (28.2 °C), with high levels of humidity due to moisture encroaching from the Gulf of Mexico.
1. The Memphis Zoo
The Memphis Zoo, located in Midtown Memphis, Tennessee, United States, is home to more than 3,500 animals representing over 500 different species. Created in April 1906, the zoo has been a major tenant of Overton Park for more than 100 years. The land currently designated to the Memphis Zoo was defined by the Overton Park master plan in 1988, it is owned by the City of Memphis. The zoo is set on 76 acres (31 ha), of which approximately 55 acres (22 ha) are developed. In 2008, the Memphis Zoo was ranked "#1 Zoo in the U.S." by TripAdvisor.com. The ranking was based on visitor opinions. Since the early 1990s, the Memphis Zoo has invested over $77 million for renovation and expansion. The zoo's animal inhabitants reside in three zones with 19 exhibits, such as Teton Trek, Northwest Passage and China, home to Giant Pandas Ya Ya and Le Le. The Memphis Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
2. Sun Studio
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s. Rock-and-roll, country music, and rockabilly artists, including Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis, recorded there throughout the mid to late 1950s until the studio outgrew its Union Avenue location. Sam Phillips opened the larger Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio, better known as Phillips Recording, in 1959 to take the place of the older facility. Since Sam had invested in the Holiday Inn Hotel chain earlier, he also recorded artists starting in 1963 on the label Holiday Inn Records for Kemmons Wilson. In 1957, Bill Justis recorded his Grammy Hall of Fame song "Raunchy" for Sam Phillips and worked as a musical director at Sun Records.
3. FedExForum
FedExForum is an arena located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It is the home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA and the NCAA Division I men's basketball program of the University of Memphis, both of whom previously played home games at the Pyramid Arena. The arena officially opened in September 2004 after much debate and also a derecho wind storm on July 22, 2003 that nearly brought down the cranes that were building it near the famed Beale Street. It was built at a cost of $250 million and is owned by the City of Memphis; naming rights were purchased by one of Memphis' most well-known businesses, FedEx, for $92 million. FedExForum was financed using $250 million of public bonds, which were issued by the Memphis Public Building Authority (PBA). The venue also has the capability of hosting ice hockey games, concerts, and family shows. In 2011, Tony Allen coined the nickname "The Grindhouse".
4. The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum
The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum is a music museum located at 191 Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum tells the critical story of the musical pioneers who overcame racial and socio-economic obstacles to create the music that changed the cultural complexion of the world. The museum offers a comprehensive Memphis music experience beginning with the rural field hollers and porch music of the sharecroppers in the 30’s highlighting the urban influences of Beale Street in the 40s, radio, Sun Records and Sam Phillips in the 50s, the heyday of Stax, Hi Records and soul music in the 60s and 70s, the impact of the civil rights movement, and the music’s influence and inspiration that continues today. The museum’s MP3 audio guide is packed with over 300 minutes of information as well as over 100 songs recorded in and around Memphis from the 1930-70s. The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum also features three audio-visual programs, more than 30 instruments and 40 costumes in seven galleries.
5. Mud Island
Mud Island (not actually an island) is a small peninsula, surrounded by the Mississippi River to the west and the Wolf River Harbor to the east. In 1960, the Wolf River was diverted so that it flows into the Mississippi River north of Mud Island, and Mud Island opened to the public in 1982. It is located within the Memphis city limits, 1.2 miles from the coast of downtown, and houses a museum, restaurants, and an amphitheater. It is accessible by the Memphis Suspension Railway (a monorail), by foot (via a footbridge located on top of the monorail), by ferry, or automobile.
6. The Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium
The Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium in Memphis, Tennessee, serves as the Mid-South's major science and historical museum and features exhibits ranging from archeology to chemistry. Over 240,000 people visit the museum each year. The museum is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, a collection of historic, educational, and technological attractions maintained by the City of Memphis and Memphis Museums, Inc. The Lichterman Nature Center, the first accredited nature center in the United States, is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, as well as the Coon Creek Science Center, an education center which is open to organized groups and features a fossil site.
7. The Stax Museum of American Soul Music
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is a museum located in Memphis, Tennessee, at 926 East McLemore Avenue, the former location of Stax Records. It is operated by Soulsville USA, which also operates the adjacent Stax Music Academy. The Stax Music Academy is a state-of-the-art facility where primarily at-risk youth are mentored through music education and unique performance opportunities they would otherwise likely never experience. The building also houses The Soulsville Charter School, an academically rigorous, musically rich school where students study math, language arts, science, social studies, and orchestra. Their Soulsville Symphony Orchestra has played for the likes of Stevie Wonder, John Legend, and Isaac Hayes.
8. The Dixon Gallery and Gardens
The Dixon Gallery and Gardens is an art museum within 17 acres of gardens, established in 1976, and located at 4339 Park Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. The museum focuses on French and American impressionism and features works by Monet, Degas, and Renoir, as well as pieces by Pierre Bonnard, Mary Cassatt, Marc Chagall, Honoré Daumier, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Berthe Morisot, Edvard Munch, Auguste Rodin, and Alfred Sisley, as well as an extensive collection of works by French Impressionist artist Jean-Louis Forain. The museum also houses the Stout Collection of 18th-century German porcelain. With nearly 600 pieces of tableware and figures, it is one of the finest such collections in the United States. The Dixon also features a comprehensive schedule of original and traveling exhibitions of fine art and horticulture.
9. Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and 13.8-acre (5.6 ha) estate in Memphis, Tennessee that was home to Elvis Presley. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles (14.5 km) from Downtown and less than four miles (6 km) north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as a museum. It was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991 and declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006. Graceland has become one of the most-visited private homes in America with over 600,000 visitors a year, behind the White House and Biltmore Estate (900,000 visitors per year). The most famous icon of the estate is the front gate, shaped like a book of sheet music, with green colored musical notes, and a silhouette of Elvis, it has come to symbolize the estate more than the mansion itself. Elvis Presley died at the estate on August 16, 1977. Presley, his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother, are buried there in what is called the Meditation Garden. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.
10. The National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum is a privately owned complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee, which traces the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with the King assassination, are part of the museum complex as well. The complex is located at at 450 Mulberry Street and owned by the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation. The main museum is located on the south edge of downtown Memphis in what is now called the South Main Arts District, and is about six blocks east of the Mississippi River. The main 4.14-acre (16,800 m2) site includes the museum and the Lorraine Motel and its buildings. The museum also owns the Young and Morrow Building at 422 Main Street, which was where James Earl Ray initially confessed (and later recanted) to shooting King. The complex also includes Canipe's Amusement Store at 418 Main Street, next to the rooming house where the murder weapon with Ray's fingerprints was found. Included on these grounds is the brushy lot that stood between the rooming house and the motel.
