Voila, Elvis Presley's Graceland, in all it's blurry, overexposed photo glory!
OK, here's Graceland itself (yawn!) -- and apologies for the poor quality photo. The front stone fence (which was there prior to Elvis's passing, but likely not original to the property -- think it was built after he purchased Graceland due to obvious privacy concerns) turned out very blurry in this shot, while the actual house itself (mini-mansion sized at least, I would say) turned out quite clear by some miracle (or did Elvis himself intervene!??). The trees on the property have grown huge, but seemed quite large even back in my childhood.
Yep, locals by and large don't seem to show too much interest in the place, but it would be pretty cool to take the tour every once in a while (instead of just once, like I have). One of my friends (transplanted to the area in 2011) has been on the tour at least twice already since moving here!
Graceland itself it turns out, has a good bit of history prior to being purchased by Elvis in 1957. Some of the early details, including some home videos of the property (taken way back in 1949!), and views of an interesting, 1942 "Graceland Farms" brochure (yep, it was a cattle farm, and a rather upscale one at that!), can be seen here, in what (be forewarned!) looks kinda like a touristy-looking (yet fairly short) video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lkZ8THpurI.
Graceland was designated a national historic landmark back in 2006. And one other link, to various photos of Elvis-related stuff (including interior views of Graceland), can be found here, with photos (a few of which I've linked to already) from local flickr member hickmanjack, as opposed to some goofy, out-of town tourist(s) pics! I've been told it's seemingly just a matter of which the way the wind is blowing on any given day as to whether or not they allow photos inside of Graceland itself(!), but can't blame them at all for disallowing any kind of damaging flash photography...
Voila, Elvis Presley's Graceland, in all it's blurry, overexposed photo glory!
OK, here's Graceland itself (yawn!) -- and apologies for the poor quality photo. The front stone fence (which was there prior to Elvis's passing, but likely not original to the property -- think it was built after he purchased Graceland due to obvious privacy concerns) turned out very blurry in this shot, while the actual house itself (mini-mansion sized at least, I would say) turned out quite clear by some miracle (or did Elvis himself intervene!??). The trees on the property have grown huge, but seemed quite large even back in my childhood.
Yep, locals by and large don't seem to show too much interest in the place, but it would be pretty cool to take the tour every once in a while (instead of just once, like I have). One of my friends (transplanted to the area in 2011) has been on the tour at least twice already since moving here!
Graceland itself it turns out, has a good bit of history prior to being purchased by Elvis in 1957. Some of the early details, including some home videos of the property (taken way back in 1949!), and views of an interesting, 1942 "Graceland Farms" brochure (yep, it was a cattle farm, and a rather upscale one at that!), can be seen here, in what (be forewarned!) looks kinda like a touristy-looking (yet fairly short) video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lkZ8THpurI.
Graceland was designated a national historic landmark back in 2006. And one other link, to various photos of Elvis-related stuff (including interior views of Graceland), can be found here, with photos (a few of which I've linked to already) from local flickr member hickmanjack, as opposed to some goofy, out-of town tourist(s) pics! I've been told it's seemingly just a matter of which the way the wind is blowing on any given day as to whether or not they allow photos inside of Graceland itself(!), but can't blame them at all for disallowing any kind of damaging flash photography...