Look Up, Memphis! A Walking Tour of Memphis, Tennessee
By Doug Gelbert
()
About this ebook
There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour is ready to explore when you are.
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.
With its location on a high bluff above the Mississippi River and its annual floods, this site has long been highly sought for settlement. For 10,000 or so years the Chickasaw Indians occupied the bluff. In 1819 when Americans John Overton, James Winchester and future President Andrew Jackson laid out a town here they named it after another city that saw massive floods each spring - Memphis, Egypt, an ancient capital on the Nile River.
Memphis was a bawdy river town for most of its early existence but as the surrounding country settled and the railroad arrived the town population exploded in the 1950s form 6,000 to over 30,000. But lurking on the horizon was a one-two punch that would bring the city to its knees for most of the reminder of the century. The Civil War did not have a tremendous direct impact on Memphis but it did strip the town of much of its wealth. The yellow fever epidemics that appeared like clockwork in 1867, 1873 and 1878 had much direr consequences. About three out of every four people had disappeared from Memphis by 1880, either in flight or in a funeral procession. So many people left Memphis that it surrendered its city charter.
After "heavy black frost and ice one-sixteenth inch thick" on October 20, 1878 broke the last of the mosquito-borne plague the town improved sanitation and rebuilt. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River south of St. Louis was built in 1892, opening trade to the Southwest. As Memphis developed into a major transportation center the city became the greatest inland cotton market in the world and more hardwood lumber was bought and sold here than anywhere else in America.
But the most enduring export from Memphis would be its music. In 1909 W.C. Handy put his spin on the "lonesome songs" of the poor rural black farmers of Mississippi Delta and introduced America to the blues. Four decades later Elvis Presley provided his own interpretation on the same songs and gave the world rock and roll. In the first half of the 20th century evening visitors to downtown Memphis could hear music wafting down from the rooftop gardens of its grand hotels; today the music comes from a revitalized Beale Street that just a few decades ago was a district of falling down brick buildings.
Today about 600,000 visitors a year - about the same number as the people who live here - come to Memphis to see a single house, Elvis Presley's Graceland, a National Historic Landmark open to the public since 1982. Not quite so many spend a lot of time looking at the downtown but that is where our walking tour will investigate, starting in a remnant of the original 1819 plan for the town...
Read more from Doug Gelbert
A Walking Tour of Greensboro, North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, San Diego! A Walking Tour of Balboa Park Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Walking Tour of Miami Beach, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Williamsburg, Virginia Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Look Up, Savannah! A Walking Tour of Savannah, Georgia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Walking Tour of The New Orleans French Quarter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Gettysburg! A Walking Tour of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Tucson, Arizona! A Walking Tour of Tucson, Arizona Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Aiken, South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Meadville, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Financial District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Long Beach! A Walking Tour of Long Beach, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of A Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Georgetown, South Carolina Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A Walking Tour of Tampa, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Madison! A Walking Tour of Madison, Wisconsin Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Walking Tour of Beaufort, South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Salem! A Walking Tour of Salem, Oregon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Salisbury, North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Upper East Side Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Upper West Side Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look Up, Oakland! A Walking Tour of Oakland, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Morristown, New Jersey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Staunton, Virginia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of St. Augustine, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Toledo! A Walking Tour of Toledo, Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Boise! A Walking Tour of Boise, Idaho Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Bordentown, New Jersey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Jacksonville, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Look Up, Memphis! A Walking Tour of Memphis, Tennessee
Related ebooks
Look Up, Nashville! A Walking Tour of Nashville, Tennessee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Washington's National Mall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Piece of the Sky is Missing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mid-South Fair: Celebrating 150 Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr Midshipman VC: The Short Accident-Prone Life of George Drewry, Gallipoli Hero Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoctor Dolittle's Zoo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting Garbo: A Novel of Hollywood Noir Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Orphans and Inmates Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A History of the South Yorkshire Countryside Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPersonal Recollections of Early Melbourne and Victoria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld Christmas From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDepeche Mode on track Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLehigh County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToly's Ghost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots: The Men Who Kept the Stuart Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDrawings of Old London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Bet’s a Sure Thing: Mac Detective Series #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHang the Little Man Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Wrong Box Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ragged A**** Ruffian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking in Essex: 25 walks and a 96 mile 'across Essex' route Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBullied: The Bullied Series Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Easter Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrivate Beatson's War: Life, Death and Hope on the Western Front Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Living with the Brooklyn Bridge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCanastota and Chittenango: Two Historic Canal Towns Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Out of the Mist: Book Three Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Short History of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States Travel For You
A Haunted Road Atlas: Sinister Stops, Dangerous Destinations, and True Crime Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Assassination Vacation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Solace of Open Spaces: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Side of Disney Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/550 Great American Places: Essential Historic Sites Across the U.S. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dakota: A Spiritual Geography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Man's Wilderness, 50th Anniversary Edition: An Alaskan Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lonely Planet Texas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Huckleberry Finn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Humans of New York Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fodor's Bucket List USA: From the Epic to the Eccentric, 500+ Ultimate Experiences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Connecticut Witch Trials: The First Panic in the New World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFodor's Best Road Trips in the USA: 50 Epic Trips Across All 50 States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids 2023 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFodor's New Orleans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Ultimate Guide to Free Things To Do in Las Vegas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow To Be Alone: an 800-mile hike on the Arizona Trail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rockhounding & Prospecting: Upper Midwest: How to Find Gold, Copper, Agates, Thomsonite, and Other Favorites Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magical Power of the Saints: Evocation and Candle Rituals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fodor's Essential Hawaii Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fodor's The Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West: with the Best Scenic Road Trips Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWitch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints: A Guide to Magical New Orleans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Look Up, Memphis! A Walking Tour of Memphis, Tennessee
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Look Up, Memphis! A Walking Tour of Memphis, Tennessee - Doug Gelbert
A Walking Tour of Memphis, Tennessee
a walking tour in the Look Up, America series from walkthetown.com
by Doug Gelbert
published by Cruden Bay Books at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 by Cruden Bay Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher.
With its location on a high bluff above the Mississippi River and its annual floods, this site has long been highly sought for settlement. For 10,000 or so years the Chickasaw Indians occupied the bluff. In 1819 when Americans John Overton, James Winchester and future President Andrew Jackson laid out a town here they named it after another city that saw massive floods each spring - Memphis, Egypt, an ancient capital on the Nile River.
Memphis was a bawdy river town for most of its early existence but as the surrounding country settled and the railroad arrived the town population exploded in the 1950s form 6,000 to over 30,000. But lurking on the horizon was a one-two punch that would bring the city to its knees for most of the reminder of the century. The Civil War did not have a tremendous direct impact on Memphis but it did strip the town of much of its wealth. The yellow fever epidemics that appeared like clockwork in 1867, 1873 and 1878 had much direr consequences. About three out of every four people had disappeared from Memphis by 1880, either in flight or in a funeral procession. So many people left Memphis that it surrendered its city charter.
After heavy black frost and ice one-sixteenth inch thick
on October 20, 1878 broke the last of the mosquito-borne plague the town improved sanitation and rebuilt. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River south of St. Louis was built in 1892, opening trade to the Southwest. As Memphis developed into a major transportation center the