Urban Education Center

About Memphis

We welcome you to our grand city!  Memphis, Tennessee is recognized as the home of Elvis Presley and as the birthplace of the Blues.  Did you know that Elvis’ home, Graceland, is the second most visited house in the country – behind the White House in Washington, D.C.?  But Graceland is only one of the many exciting sites and attractions that you will want to see during your visit to Memphis.  Our Memphis is May festival attracts people from around the world to compete in the International Barbecue Cooking Contest. This festival draws thousands to the banks of the Mississippi for live concerts and the Sunset Symphony.

We’re also home to the Peabody - queen of Southern hotels, Mud Island, and the National Civil Rights Museum.  

With unique Memphis attractions including music museums, art galleries, pro-sports arenas, Mississippi riverboat tours, the Memphis Zoo, voodoo shops and even downtown fortune tellers and palm readers, you don't have to look hard for quirky, fun, exciting things to do in Memphis.

Visit the obvious and required Graceland and Beale Street, then hit the flipside of Memphis at the W.C. Handy House Museum, Shelby Farms, the largest urban park in the country, or the "twisted" Ornamental Metal Museum.  Memphis magnetism is its own attraction.

Graceland offers a one of a kind journey through Elvis's humble beginnings and rise to superstardom with up close and personal looks at the influence that forever changed our music and our lives. Discover the ultimate rock ?n' roll experience through videos, photos, personal mementos and artifacts, mcostumes and much more.

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is the oldest fine arts museum in the state of Tennessee and houses an outstanding collection of art dating from antiquity to the present. The Brooks is dedicated to enriching the lives of our visitors through the museum’s expanding collection, varied exhibitions, and dynamic programs. The museum provides visitors the opportunity to learn about the visual arts through diverse traveling exhibitions and thought-provoking in-house exhibitions.

Located at the heart of Memphis in historic Overton Park, the Brooks is a vibrant cultural complex that comprises twenty-nine galleries, two art classrooms, a print study room, a research library, and a professional auditorium with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment.

With nine casinos, three golf courses, and countless dining and entertainment choices, the possibilities are endless in Tunica.

What began as a tiny record store in an old movie theater at the corner of McLemore Avenue and College Street in Memphis, Tennessee, grew to become one of the most important music recording studios in the world. When the modest Capitol Theater in the heart of Soulsville USA was transformed into Stax Records in 1959, it began launching the careers of unknowns who would become icons, cranking out a massive catalog of smash soul hits by the likes of Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, Luther Ingram, Albert King, the Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the MG's, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and dozens of other artists whose influence remains vital in the music of today. On its many and varied labels, Stax Records also recorded such legends as Big Star, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Moms Mabley, and the Grammy-winning comedic genius Richard Pryor.

Today, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located at the original site of Stax Records, pays tribute to all of the artists who recorded there with a rare and amazing collection of more than 2,000 interactive exhibits, films, artifacts, items of memorabilia, and galleries designed to keep Stax alive forever. Because it is the only soul music museum in the world, it also spotlights America's other major soul music pioneers, including the sounds of Muscle Shoals, Motown, Hi, and Atlantic Records, spotlighting the contributions of such soul pioneers as Ike & Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, The Jackson Five, Ann Peebles, Al Green, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ray Charles, and many others.

For more attractions, dining options, things to do or just more information about Memphis, please visit memphistravel.com.