Strolling up to 406 Lucy Avenue--a modest, boarded-up shotgun house in South Memphis--hits you with…read morea mix of reverence and heartbreak. This humble home is where the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, first drew breath on March25,1942 Despite being in a rough spot--windows boarded, weeds creeping, and parts collapsing--it still whispers history at every creak You can't go inside, but stepping onto the porch--or as close as allowed--fills you with awe. This is ground zero for gospel that would later shake the world. Aretha herself returned here in 2014 and recalled memories of her father preaching and her family gathering under a backyard tree with nostalgia and fondness The neighborhood, part of historic Soulsville, bears its own scars--decades of neglect and blight. But the house stands at the center of a hopeful revival. Local activists and preservation groups have fought zoning orders and demolition plans, and as recently as mid-2024, efforts to stabilize and restore the site gained traction--especially now that Anasa Troutman owns the property with the intent to honor its legacy in place

To some 406 Lucy Avenue Memphis TN 38106 is just a boarded up house in a blighted neighborhood…read more However to those that love music history and nostalgia this is sacred. Why is it sacred? Because the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was born here. Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 26, 1942 in Memphis Tennessee. I cannot imagine what it was like back in those times but to see where she came from to what she became in her life is astounding. The dwelling is marked as a Historical Landmark but it is unkempt and not restored. I pray that some group be it her family or her fans find a way to restore it and make it a museum.

West Memphis is in Arkansas, a short hop, skip and a jump from Memphis…read more There is a world of difference between the two neighboring communities. Memphis has the stunningly beautiful Rhodes campus, nicely upkept homes. It has strip malls, more development and appears to have lots of community pride.

This is the best walk we did in Memphis over our 5 active days. You should do it. To get to the…read moreparking place, however, put "WREG-TV News Channel 3" into google maps INSTEAD OF the bridge. It will take you right there (instead of to the industrial marine place on the south side of the bridge).

I purchased tickets in advance of our June vacation on 1/20/26 to the Mallory-Neely House. Well, we…read morefinally are on our vacation and tried to go to our appointment on 6/27/26 at 2:30 and no one was there at the house. In fact there were unhoused individuals sleeping on the property. My husband walked around the house and he said it looks as though it's been a while since someone was on property. Now I'm going to have to try and get a refund for services NOT rendered. We stayed around there for over 15 minutes and no one showed up. I've tried calling before back in January, left a message and my call was never returned. I tried calling yesterday and no one answered. VERY disappointed as I wanted to see the beauty of this house and I came all the way from Seattle to do it but no one was there at our scheduled time to let us in.

One of the top highlights of our trip to Memphis! Amazing home, fully restored! Our tour guide Mark…read morewas so fantastic, friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and made the house really come alive! Excellent experience and well worth it.

While visiting Memphis it was integral that we go to aitws lertaining to history. Civil Rights…read morehistory to be specific. I was born on 1968 so I never experienced what my parents witnessed. The I Am A Man Plaza is adjacent to the Clayborn Temple. This site is where the Memphis sanitation workers gathered during a strike in protest of working conditions. The Plaza is an open site that has a sculpture paying tribute to the strikers and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The plaza also has a wall engraved with the names of the people who participated in the strike. Martin Luther King came here during the strike and was later assassinated. It's hard to understand the thought process of those who had hatred for another person in that time period. This is why it's important to visit places like this just to pay respects. This is a free site at no cost.

Beautiful memorial for those that fought for civil rights and those that lost their lives while…read moredoing so. It has a lot of unique architecture and creative ways to display names in loving memory. The historic Clayborn Temple is right behind/next to it.

The Sultana: The Greatest Maritime Disaster in US History. Yes,... even worse than The Titanic…read more This disaster received little public attention, as it took place at the end of the Civil War, after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the day after John Wilkes Booth was killed. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. Under the terms of the surrender agreement, POWs were to be freed and sent home as soon as possible. Union prisoners from Andersonville, GA and Cahaba, AL were sent to Vicksburg, MS to ship home up the MS River. The government offered to pay boat owners $5 per enlisted man and $10 per officer transported. The Sultana left Vicksburg on April 24th with more than 2,300 prisoners of war (plus an additional number of crew and passengers and a large shipment of sugar bound for Memphis). It's legal carrying capacity was only 376 passengers. The Sultana had pulled into Vicksburg at about the same time as two other boats (the Pauline Caroll and the Lady Gay); however, those 2 boats left with 0 soldiers. To make matters worse, a boiler had to be patched while in port at Vicksburg. The mechanic warned it would need to be properly fixed once up north. At about 2am on April 27th 1865, the steamboat's boilers exploded. Over 1,800 of the Sultana's +2,300 passengers were killed just north of Marion, Arkansas. The 1,800 people were burned to death, drowned or died of hypothermia. After the disaster, people wanted to determine the cause of the Sultana explosion as well as why it was so overcrowded. Many concluded that Mason, the captain and part owner of the Sultana, bribed Union officers into letting him transport as many freed prisoners as possible so that he would make lots of money; however, Mason was killed in the accident. Captain Frederick Speed, a Union army officer, was found guilty of overcrowding the Sultana. But his verdict was overturned by the army. So in the end, the U.S. Army never punished anyone for the disaster.

This is a terrific museum dedicated to a disaster that has largely been forgotten, lost in the…read moreaftermath of the Civil War. There is a great introductory film, and then several rooms of artifacts and interpretive material about this event, the largest maritime loss of life in American history. The passionate and deeply knowledgeable guide made our visit very special. Highly recommended.

It is really hard to know what this boulder is for or what it represents. On one side is a plaque…read morethat doesn't mention slavery and on the other you can tell a plaque is missing.. There is no doubt slave auctions occurred in this vicinity, but the site is too poorly marked to know what it is bearing witness to, hence 3 stars. There is a TN historical marker nearby but it is for forts in the late 1700,s.

July 27, 2014 Noel Lori-Elizabeth Teel, Dale Tony Vanoy and I visited the Slave Auction Square in…read moreMemphis down on North Main Street. Here is some history about it. One of the four squares to have been constructed in Memphis for the exchange and trade of bonded labor, the Auction Square on North Main Street, is also remembered as the first food market in Memphis. While the name does suggest that this square was the designated venue for slave auctions, the actual auctioning was conducted in either the Market Square or the indoor halls. Today, as one of the final remnants of this long-forgotten era in Memphis' past, the Auction Square still displays the original plaque which commemorates the two kinds of trade that have shaped much of Memphis' current-day economy -- slaves and cotton. In fact, the plantation owners, who played a major role in Memphis' economic boom, are known to have been almost completely dependant on bonded labor, which they purchased in exchange for their cotton at Memphis Address: On Main Street in front of the MTA Building. It is located in a patch of grass with a historical marker about Fort Adam located with Metal fence around it. There are some lovely Crepe Myrtle trees around it. They need to have a little more signage about it. I know it is a horrible part of our past but it is HISTORY and we should preserve it.

I am reviewing the Waffle Shop at Calvary Episcopal Church. The food was very good. We tried the…read morewaffle which was very fluffy!! The chocolate mousse dessert was good but very sweet. My friend and I shared the fish pudding plate that had fish pudding, corn sticks, cole slaw and potatoes. The fish pudding is like a casserole. I was happily surprised. It was made with a lot of catfish, celery, onions, breading and yummy seasonings. We enjoyed it. The corn sticks were a little dry. The potatoes were quite tasty and I liked the coleslaw. Coffee was okay. The people and service was spot on! The volunteers were so nice, friendly and helpful. My friend and I plan on making this event a yearly outing. They offer a lenten service after but we could not stay for it. We will return again.

Closed and secured on a Saturday afternoon, which is a bummer as this is a beautiful church on the…read moreoutside and I would expect it to be just as lovely on the inside. Plenty to see outside though. The marker out front reads, "The oldest public building in Memphis and the first Episcopal Church in Shelby County. Organized August 6, 1832 by the Reverend Thomas Wright. The church house started 1838 was consecrated May 12, 1844 by the Right Reverend James Hervey Otey, first Bishop of Tennessee, the Reverend Philip W. Alston, Rector. The Reverend Robert P. Atkinson, Rector, 1969." There is street parking nearby. [Review 19852 overall - 404 in Tennessee - 825 of 2023.]

This beautiful building was designed by James Gamble Rogers (who also designed several buildings on…read morethe Yale and Columbia University campuses) and was completed in 1909. It is in the neoclassical style and features a long portico topped by a cornice supported by massive Ionic columns. The courthouse is surrounded by multiple allegorical sculptures including "Justice" and "peace" and "Authority" and "Wisdom." The grounds are open and quite accessible to view from all angles. Metered street parking was available, but it's a Saturday morning. I would expect all of these spots to be busy during the week. There is a historical marker with more information, "Designed by Architect James Gamble Rogers and dedicated on January 1, 1910, the Shelby County Courthouse is the largest and most ornate in Tennessee. Quarterly Court Chairman James Hill Barret led the movement for the imposing structure with modern amenities. Upon approval of the project and issuance of $1,000,000 in bonds (later supplemented by an additional $500,000), he appointed N.C. Perkins to head the construction committee. Until 1966 this neo~classical building of blue Bedford limestone housed the executive and legislative chambers of Memphis and Shelby County governments, as well as state and local courts. Beginning in 1984 and utilizing taxes paid only by litigants, County Commissioner Charles Perkins directed an extensive, 8-year renovation that resulted in refurbished courtrooms and offices for Circuit, Probate, and Chancery Courts and the Civil Division of General Sessions Court. Many fine details were preserved and augmented, including mahogany doors and paneling, brass doorknobs embossed with the County seal, and walls, pilasters, and flooring comprised of seven varieties of marble." Bummer the building was closed today. [Review 19841 overall - 393 in Tennessee - 814 of 2023.]

Strange to see this marker in front of our hotel. I didn't realize Piggly Wiggly is from Memphis &…read morethey were America's first true self-service grocery store . Clarence Saunders founded the supermarket in Memphis, in 1916. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who then gathered the goods from the store shelves. Saunders, a dynamic & innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in time and expense wasted, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry. He created a way for shoppers to serve themselves. Piggy Wiggly supermarkets are still in business today.

The Piggly Wiggly marker in downtown Memphis may not seem like much at first glance--just a humble…read moreplaque outside a historic storefront--but for anyone who's ever set foot in a modern grocery store, it's where the whole thing began. This was the site of the world's first self-service grocery store, opened by Clarence Saunders in 1916. Before this place, shopping meant handing your list to a clerk who fetched your items. But Saunders changed everything, letting customers roam the aisles, pick their own goods, and--revolutionary idea--read price tags. Standing there, you can almost picture early shoppers wandering through the aisles for the first time, baskets in hand, probably confused and delighted. It's a quiet spot on a busy street, easy to miss if you're rushing--but if you pause, it feels like standing at the start of something massive. Like someone invented not just a store, but a way of life. It's not flashy, but it's sacred ground for retail nerds, Southern storytellers, and anyone who ever enjoyed impulse-buying snacks at checkout. The Piggly Wiggly marker is a tribute to bold ideas and grocery carts--who knew a grocery store could have so much history?