Memphis, explained
The Riverline is the name Memphis River Parks Partnership uses for its long-term plan to connect the city’s separate riverfront parks into one continuous trail for walking and cycling, running roughly from the northern edge of Downtown to the bluffs south of the Memphis and Arkansas Memorial Bridge. Most of it is not built yet. … Read more
Yes, but only with a plan. Beale Street, Sun Studio and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music sit in three different parts of Memphis, none within walking distance of the others. A car or a rideshare, a realistic order — Sun in the morning, Stax midday, Beale Street last — and roughly six to … Read more
Sunday in Memphis is not a diminished version of the week — it runs on its own logic. Several major museums that close on Monday are open, Tennessee’s alcohol laws treat Sunday differently from every other day, and some of the city’s oldest congregations hold services in buildings that are also, separately, sites of civil-rights … Read more
A weekend built around Graceland works best if the mansion is treated as one long visit on one day, not a quick stop — it sits about nine miles south of downtown, in a neighborhood called Whitehaven, and the rest of Memphis’s music and history sites are clustered elsewhere. The two halves of the city … Read more
A rained-out day in Memphis works because the city’s core attractions are almost entirely indoors. Museums, the Lorraine Motel site, Sun Studio, Graceland’s exhibit buildings and Crosstown Concourse all operate under roof, and downtown’s grid is short enough to move between them by car, rideshare or the covered stretches of the trolley without much exposure … Read more
On a hundred-degree day in Memphis, the heat itself becomes the organizing fact of the day. Humidity pushes the heat index well above the air temperature, outdoor plans compress into the early morning or after sunset, and most of the city — visitors and residents alike — moves indoors from roughly late morning through early … Read more
A day in Memphis with children works best around two or three fixed points — one indoor institution built to hold a child’s attention, one open outdoor space, and unhurried gaps between them. The city’s family-oriented museums, its largest park and its riverfront sit close enough together that a car is useful but not strictly … Read more
A car-free day in Memphis works if it stays inside one compact zone — downtown, South Main and the riverfront — using the Main Street Trolley, MATA buses and walking, plus rideshare for the gaps. It does not work as a plan to see Graceland, Stax and Sun Studio in the same day; those sit … Read more
A single walking route can connect downtown Memphis’s core sites in roughly two to two and a half miles: from South Main and the National Civil Rights Museum, north through Beale Street and Court Square, past the Peabody Hotel, to the Mississippi River at the Memphis Pyramid. Most of it runs flat, on sidewalks, with … Read more
A civil-rights day in Memphis has a fixed centre — the National Civil Rights Museum at the former Lorraine Motel — and two other buildings a short drive or ride away, Clayborn Temple and Mason Temple, both directly tied to the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike. Together they form a route that can be walked and … Read more
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