{"id":31911,"date":"2018-06-07T11:44:31","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T15:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=31911"},"modified":"2022-06-06T11:44:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T15:44:46","slug":"elvis-fans-rejoice-graceland-opened-to-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/elvis-fans-rejoice-graceland-opened-to-the-public.html","title":{"rendered":"Elvis Fans Rejoice: Graceland Opened to the Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graceland, Elvis Presley\u2019s 23-room mansion and 14-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, was the singer\u2019s sanctuary where he carefully guarded his privacy. He died in his beloved mansion at the age of 42 on 16 August 1977, apparently of a heart attack, and is buried there along with his parents and paternal grandmother.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: a publicity photograph of Elvis Presley promoting the film “Jailhouse Rock,” 1957. Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Five years later, with the estate burdened with enormous upkeep costs and a large tax bill, Presley\u2019s former wife Priscilla was facing the possibility of selling Graceland. Acting as the estate\u2019s executor on behalf of their daughter Lisa Marie, Priscilla Presley decided to open Graceland to public tours \u2013 a decision that probably would have horrified Elvis but delighted his legions of fans.<\/p>\n

The first sightseers entered Graceland on 7 June 1982, and over 3,000 fans strolled and gawked that day, adults paying $5 and children $3. They were eager to see rooms few fans had been allowed to visit when the singer was alive, including:<\/p>\n

Graceland\u2019s Living Room<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Graceland\u2019s living room. Credit: Ronincmc; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Graceland\u2019s \u201cJungle Room\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Graceland\u2019s \u201cjungle room.\u201d Credit: Egghead06; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Graceland\u2019s Pool Room<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Graceland\u2019s pool room. Credit: Thomas R Machnitzki; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Graceland\u2019s TV Room<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Graceland\u2019s TV room. Credit: Ronincmc; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The site has become a hugely successful tourist attraction, with over 650,000 visitors every year \u2013 second only to the White House as America\u2019s most-visited home. On 7 November 1991, Graceland was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and became a National Historic Landmark on 27 March 2006.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 8 June 1982, page 21<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a transcription of this article:<\/p>\n

Gates of Graceland Swing Open to Fans of Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roller<\/strong><\/p>\n

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) \u2013 The 23-room Georgian-style mansion where Elvis Presley doggedly guarded his privacy was opened to the public Monday, giving fans their first look at the trappings and treasures of the rock \u2019n\u2019 roll king.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had really mixed emotions about coming,\u201d Charlene Foster of Harrisburg, Ill., said after she completed the almost two-hour tour. \u201cBut I\u2019m very glad I came. It\u2019s like a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials of Graceland Enterprises Inc. said 3,000 fans would complete the tour Monday, some from as far away as England, France and Australia.<\/p>\n

The honor of being the first to enter went to Lytan Wells of Kenner, La., a New Orleans suburb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody loved Elvis any more than I do,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think a tourist \u2013 a sightseer \u2013 should have been first in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some fans \u2013 like Mrs. Wells \u2013 arrived several hours before the 9 a.m. opening to visit Presley\u2019s gravesite.<\/p>\n

The grounds of the 14-acre estate were opened to the public shortly after Presley\u2019s death nearly five years ago to allow fans free visits to his gravesite. The Meditation Garden where Presley, his parents and his paternal grandmother are buried is part of the tour.<\/p>\n

Fans gathered at a staging area across the street from the estate to wait for vans which ferried them to the door of the mansion for the tour inside. For visitors without advance tickets, there was a 15-minute wait to get one of the 1,000 tickets \u2013 $5 for adults and $3 for children \u2013 held back for daily sales.<\/p>\n

The souvenir shops reported a brisk business, with T-shirts and postcards being the hot sellers.<\/p>\n

Presley, who was found dead on the bathroom floor at his mansion on Aug. 16, 1977, bought Graceland in 1957 for $100,000. A physician had built the mansion in 1939 as a country home.<\/p>\n

A huge wrought-iron gate, private guards and a closed-circuit TV system protected the singer\u2019s privacy during his lifetime, and only a few fans were ever allowed entrance into his domain.<\/p>\n

Executors of the estate \u2013 including Priscilla Presley, Elvis\u2019 former wife \u2013 decided last year to open the mansion to the public for the first time, saying the estate needed the revenue.<\/p>\n

There has never been a public accounting of the estate\u2019s worth, but there have been tax estimates of at least $25 million.<\/p>\n

The tour includes the dining, living and music rooms on the main floor of the two-story mansion and television and pool rooms on a lower level.<\/p>\n

Visitors leave the house for the carport where several motorcycles and automobiles belonging to Presley are displayed.<\/p>\n

From there, visitors walk past the horse stables and toward the trophy room, where Presley\u2019s gold record collection, awards, costumes, part of his gun collection and hundreds of other pieces of memorabilia are displayed.<\/p>\n

Nearly every aspect of Presley\u2019s life is touched upon \u2013 his birth in Tupelo, Miss., his school days, his Army life, his marriage and the birth of his daughter, 14-year-old Lisa Marie, who will take over the mansion and the estate at her 25th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was most emotional for me,\u201d said Mrs. Foster, who wept as she viewed the trophy room. \u201cTo see his jump suits and the gold records.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors \u2013 the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers, including more recent events. Are you an Elvis Presley fan? Have you visited Graceland?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article about Elvis Presley\u2019s home \u201cGraceland\u201d being opened for public tours for the first time on 7 June 1982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12441],"tags":[484,31731,24235],"class_list":["post-31911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-musicians","tag-elvis-presley","tag-graceland","tag-music-and-musicians"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/photo-0607-2018-featured-graphic-graceland.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84999,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31911\/revisions\/84999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}