Into the West

August 3, 2006

Elvis Birthplace

Rowan Oak


We have finally crossed the Mississippi and officially entered the West. Crossing into Arkansas at a small town called Helena across from the Mississippi Delta. Before we crossed, we spent a day exploring a small section of Mississippi that included Tupelo and Oxford.

We began the day in Tupelo. No trip there could be considered complete without a visit to the birthplace of Elvis Presley so we headed over to the birthplace and Elvis museum first thing. The actual small two room shack where Elvis was born is fairly interesting. Restored to the way it looked in the 30s, the small home gives you the sense of how far Elvis rose to fame. After visiting the excess that is Graceland, it really puts things into perspective. The museum and chapel at the birthplace are not so interesting. The collection consists of the personal collection of Janelle McComb who is described as a personal family friend of Elvis. The stuff is a jumble of unexplained items that makes little sense.

The room where Elvis was born.

We drove next for a time along the Natchez Trace, stopping at the visitor center just outside of Tupelo. This historic and scenic road leads from just south of Nashville through much of Mississippi. Once a popular trading route, the road passes by Choctaw Indian Mounds and villages. Our next stop was in the small town of Oxford. This beautiful little town is the home of The University of Mississippi, William Faulkner and the best book store in the US, Square Books.



We had lunch at a little restaurant bar called Proud Larry’s before spending a good bit of time perusing the selection at Square Books. They have a huge selection of signed first editions mostly because just about any author who releases a book has an obligatory book signing at the famous bookstore. Nearby, we toured the home of William Faulkner, Rowan Oak. Faulkner lived and wrote almost all his most famous books there until his death in 1962. It has been preserved just as he left it by the University and we were the only visitors the day we were there. We had the whole beautiful place to ourselves. His office is especially of interest because the outline of his final book, “The Fable”, is still visible written along the walls of the office.

Faulkner's Office

Our travels west continued as we meandered through the Mississippi, up the famous Highway 61 and into Arkansas. We made a quick drive through of the small town of Marianna, where Kathy’s maternal grandmother was from, before driving on to our next destination, Hot Springs National Park.