Elvis' Twin Brother
Did you know their middle names rhymed?
If I say Tupelo what do you think of first?
We visited the Tupelo Hardware Store and chatted up the gentlemen working that day. He said that wherever he goes in the world, when he mentions he is from Tupelo the first thing people say is…Elvis!!
Every…single…time.
Elvis’s birth. January 8th, 1935.
In Tupelo Mississippi, for 30 minutes, Jesse Garron Presley was the only child to Vernon and Gladys. Sadly he was stillborn.
At 4:30am, Elvis Aron Presley breathed his first breath. (there is some debate that his middle name is actually spelled with two a’s though) Rhyming middle names was somewhat of a trend at the time.
This shy child would spend his early years in the small city of Tupelo, only 90 minutes south of Memphis, Tennessee. At the age of 13, Elvis and the Presley family would move to the city known for Blues music…and the rest is history.
What to see in Tupelo
If you get to the Memphis area and visit Graceland, it may be worth your time to make the day trip down south.
🏚️ There is a small museum there that focuses on the first 13 years of Evlis’ life, with the home he lived in that has been moved close to the museum.
🔨 From there you can visit the hardware store where his mother bought his first guitar for his 11th birthday. (yes they sell guitars there if you want to get one)
🎙️ Head over to the town square where Elvis returned to Tupelo to perform in 1956…to screaming fans.
🪦 Lastly you can visit Priceville Cemetery where Jesse was buried. You will see a marker dedicated to him, but the reality is that they do not actually know exactly where he was buried.
ps. park by the church as the driveway into the cemetery takes you to someone’s home.
If you can’t make it out there…we have you covered as we visited all of those spots and shared it for the world to see.
📍 Google Maps to Elvis Tupelo locations
(psst…you can share this with your fellow Elvis fans)