With no big agenda for today - we took off and drove a huge circle. First stop- Holly Springs, Ms. This little town caught my eye because it is filled antebellum homes - which blows my mind that these were built before and survived the civil war. It was the home of Ida B. Wells who was freed from slavery at age 16 and was a founder of the NAACP. They have an old train depot built on 1852 and a confederate cemetery. We found the confederate section but many of the graves were from people that died in the yellow fever pandemic of 1878. How do we know? It was engraved on the headstones. About 20,000 deaths in this region. I wonder how that would compare to Covid? The massive magnolia trees here amaze me! Trivia - magnolia trees can live from 600 to 1,000 years.
On our way to Tupelo, we had lunch in New Albany on the banks of the Tallachatchie River. Mark found and played “Ode to Billy Joe” Macalister who jumped off the Tallachatchie bridge. All you youngins will have to google the song! Since we were in New Albany we visited their cute downtown with an impressive courthouse.
On to Tupelo and a stop at Elvis Presley’s birthplace. His dad took out a $180 dollar loan to build the house by himself. New learning- I had no idea that Elvis was a twin. His brother, Jessie born 35 minutes before Elvis, died at birth. Unfortunately, dad - Vernon ended up and prison and the bank foreclosed on the house. Elvis got his first guitar, at age 11, for a birthday present that he didn’t want. He wanted a .22 rifle. But his mother didn’t think it was safe - so got a $7.90 guitar instead. Guess momma had a premonition! The birthplace fell into disrepair and the Tupelo garden society restored the house. Elvis gave a donation.
Tupelo has a small replica of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. We stopped for a hot minute to find the name on my 1970’s POW bracelet - an air force pilot. Charles Walling.
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