Category: People

Florence AL

The Dred Scott was a slave whose “owner” sold him after they moved from Florence to Missouri, a free state. He sued for his freedom but the Supreme Court ruled in 1857 that slaves were not citizens and therefore could not sue, even in a free state.
W. C. Handy is widely considered to be the father of Blues music. He was born in this cabin in 1873.
Helen Keller was born here in Tuscumbia (just south of Florence) in 1880. She was an author, educator, and advocate for blind and deaf communities. Her accomplishments as a blind and deaf person helped to change perceptions of members of these communities and transformed in particular their opportunities for education.
Keller overcame great challenges with the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, memorialized here.
This Frank Lloyd Wright house was built in 1939. It is considered the purest example of the Usonian style.

Alabama Music Hall of Fame

Tuscumbia AL

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame is fairly small, but it has a lot of neat displays about musicians who are Alabama natives.

Equipment from the Sun Studio in Memphis
Microphone used by Elvis, BB King, etc.
My father’s all time favorite country singer. He is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. Killed in a car accident at age 30.
The Commodores outfits
Outfits worn by The Temptations.
Sonny James display.
Tammy Wynette, considered The First Lady of Country Music.
Hank Williams bust, and Hank Williams Jr display.
This is a wild one. A slightly over-the-top Pontiac Bonneville once owned by Happy Hal Burns, radio and TV star in the mid 20th century. His trademark line was “Beeeeeeee Happy”.
Inside of the car is adorned with pistols!
Alabama’s tour bus
W. C. Handy’s trumpet
We toured FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, and heard the original recording of Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally.
Muscle Shoals is famous for its recording studios, in use even today.

Elvis Presley

Tupelo MS

Tupelo MS is all about Elvis Presley. He was born in this small house on January 8, 1935.
In 1948 the Presley family packed up and moved to Memphis in a 1939 Plymouth.
The “Walk of Life” chronicles every year of Elvis’ life.
Elvis at 13.
Elvis’ childhood church.
Pretty cool mural along a wall on the property.
At the top of a hill, a platform called “Becoming”. Statues of a young Elvis sitting in front of the Superstar Elvis performing.
Elvis’ mother bought him his first guitar from this hardware store in 1946.
Downtown Tupelo mural.
Elvis’ favorite hangout – Johnnie’s Drive In.
Of course, we ate here, in The Elvis Booth!
These metal sculptures are all over town.

Lincolniana at Mississippi State University

Starkville MS

Council of War, 1868, depicting General Grant, President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton.
Council of War variation, 1868
Bronze bust of Lincoln without the beard
Lincoln-Douglas Debate, by John D. Whiting
Young Lincoln, by Norman Rockwell
Lincoln portrait by C.C. Beall
Lincoln in Prayer, by James Montgomery Flagg
Lincoln at Window, by James Montgomery Flagg
Lincoln portrait by F.C. Courter
Original 1860 campaign flag