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| The Elvis Presley Boyhood Home in Tupelo, Mississippi |
www.dennismook.com
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. I hope it was a good one. You deserve all the accolades you receive.
We started the day early with a visit to Elvis Presley's boyhood home and church. The home and church were moved to a corner location in east Tupelo. Additionally, there is a large visitor's center on the property. The "shrine" to Elvis is much bigger than I had imagined.
We had arrived long before the visitor's center was open and we weren't able to go inside any of the buildings. I would surmise that the Presley home consisted of only a couple of rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen, or kitchen area. There were only two windows on each side, one on the back of the house and one on the front. The makeshift foundation, which looked original, looked mighty shaky to me.
One fact of which I was not aware, is that Elvis was a twin, the second born, and the first, a baby named Jessie Garon, was stillborn. I didn't know that and had never heard that fact.
From there, we thought we would have a real breakfast instead of a "hotel" breakfast and drove to a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant. We both at well! Maybe a little too well!
Afterwards, we had to re-find the Natchez Trace, which we did by some logical deductive reasoning, which might surprise some of you. We turned north and started our drive over the north half of the Trace.
One of the first places we stopped was the Meriwether Lewis gravesite. As you recall your history, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark conducted the Lewis & Clark expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River at the behest of President Thomas Jefferson. The expedition began in 1804 and was completed in 1806, losing none of their party which is amazing, as they were gone over two years and encountered many dangers along the way. Meriwether Lewis became Governor of Louisiana after his return and William Clark became the Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as Governor of Missouri.
Lewis, on a trip up the Natchez Trace in 1809, stopped for the night at Grinder's Stand or Inn/Tavern. He asked to spend the night and indicated that there were two more men in his party who would arrive later. Mrs. Grinder, later in a statement for the record, said Governor Lewis was acting strangely, walking about in his room and talking like a lawyer. She said she was somewhat frightened, being her husband was away. Everyone, including slaves and children, agree that they heard shots fired about two hours before dawn. Mrs. Grinder looked into the room to find Lewis shot, but still alive. He asked for some water, but she was afraid and did not enter nor give him any. Close to dawn, she sent one of her slaves in and Lewis was still alive, but barely. He had been shot in the head and the abdomen. Two single shot pistols were found. He died about two hours later.
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| Meriwether Lewis Monument |
Now there is a controversy that has been raging for 200 years as to whether he committed suicide or was murdered for political or money reasons. The controversy has never been satisfactorily settled for some, but the National Park Service, which administers his grave and monument, has settled on the suicide theory. It is a fascinating story, of which I was aware, and if you are interested there are many websites that give the story. It is worth looking up and reading.
In my law enforcement career, I had worked over 100 death investigations of all kinds, including many suicides. I have never heard of anyone using two single shot pistols to fire simultaneously, to shoot him or herself. I have seen double shots from the same gun (due to the weapon being semi-automatic and a second shot fired because the recoil makes the weapon push up against the trigger finger/thumb causing it to fire), but not two weapons. I'm not sure about this suicide theory, but I don't have all the facts either.
He was initially buried in a shallow grave and "a few rails" thrown over it, but because of his stature and accomplishments, especially for a man of only 35 years of age, his makeshift grave was found, his identity confirmed and this new grave an monument was erected a hundred or so yards from where he died.
We spent quite a bit of time at the site as there is a National Park Service information "log cabin" there and I was able to engage in a conversation with the duty ranger about the incident.
Later, farther up north on the Trace, we encountered the Gordon House which was constructed in 1817-1818. John Gordon, with the permission of the Chickasaw Indians, operated a trading post and ferry service on the Duck River. He and his wife built this brick home, which is remarkably sturdy and still standing, and lived in it until John died a few years after its completion. His wife continued to live there until her death in 1859. I found it remarkable that the brick home is still so solid.
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| John Gordon Home |
Leaving the Gordon home, we completed our 444 mile journey on the Natchez Trace and headed north toward our destination of Nashville. However, before going to Nashville, I called a good friend in Franklin, TN to see if he and his family were home. Luckily, they were and they agreed to meet us at a coffee shop in old downtown Franklin. It was really good to see Al, Martha and Ally Segal again. Al and I worked together for about 20 years as members of the Portsmouth, Virginia Police Department before I retired as chief of police and assumed that same role at the Newport News, Virginia Police Department. Al retired as a Captain not too long after me and took on the role of Commander of the Franklin, TN Police Department.
Travel Tip: Remember how I said a visit to friends or relatives along your way can break up the journey as well as garner valuable travel information? Well, in this case Martha Segal, who works for the city of Nashville, was able to advise us of a couple of hotels in downtown Nashville that had very nice accommodations and very reasonable prices--and only a few blocks away from all the eating/drinking establishments. Additionally, she was able to advise us of few very good restaurants in which we could have a fine meal. Without the visit, we would not have known about these. Thank you Martha. Lesson: seeing friends not only renews old acquaintances, but can be valuable for travel as well.
We arrived in Nashville late this afternoon, checked into our hotel, freshened up then walked a few blocks to the part of Broadway that has all of the "action." By "action" I mean restaurants, bars and commercial establishments with lots of live music. Everyplace had live music and it was like the battle of the bands! Very cool but loud!
Tomorrow, we will tour some in Nashville before heading north on I-65 toward Bowling Green, KY.
Today we drove through the rest of Mississippi, through the corner of Alabama and about 2/3 way south to north in Tennessee, about 230 miles. Enjoy!
Thanks for looking.
Dennis Mook
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