The Drive from Cumberland Gap to Memphis!
Civil War, Civil Rights, and Rock n Roll.
My bucket list had a big star next to Memphis, Tennessee for the past few years. So much history happened there. I started researching. I love Google Maps—I can plan trips for hours. To drive from Richmond, VA to Memphis I could do it along I64, I81, and I40. C’mon I had driven those routes many times in route to Knoxville, Tennessee prior to the Interstate 81and 40 being completed.
I knew that Daniel Boone had moved west from Virginia across the Cumberland Gap and I wanted to see if I could find an enjoyable drive, off the main roads, through Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. I know a little bit about the Civil War and Civil Rights, so I began to explore a drive.
I looked up Cumberland Gap. I observed that I could drive along the New River from Christiansburg and wind my way to the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park and the Wilderness Road. From the Gap, I could follow the Wilderness Road to another National Park, Ft. Donelson, TN, as Ken Burns said “Hard on the Cumberland River,” where U.S. Grant won his first battle, and nickname, employing Iron Clads. Nathan Bedford Forest escaped capture here, an event the Union would regret the remainder of the war.
https://www.nps.gov/fodo/ https://www.nps.gov/cuga/
Now in a Civil War state of mind, I could continue to look west towards Memphis and see what else I could visit. I had always heard a controversial massacre of “colored troops” took place at Ft. Pillow, Tn. that was attributed to the aforementioned Nathan Bedford Forest. Forest, a dominant player in the Western theatre of the Civil War, has always been painted as a true racist. He was one of the original founders of the Klu Klux Klan, so it can’t be too far off the mark. He was regarded as a military genius. With all these thoughts in mind, Anne and I headed to Ft. Pillow State Park, TN. The on-site Ranger explained much of the controversy surrounding the massacre. There are conflicting interpretations of the events. You pick yours.
After the State Park, it is on to Memphis- I am pinching myself. We are talking Rock n Roll History here. We are talking Sam Phillips and Sun Records (A National Historic Landmark.)
A great quote of Sam’s:
“Without the cooperation of total resentment on the part of the parents, Rock ‘n’ Roll would have had a rougher time makin’ it.”
https://www.sunrecords.com/artists
I can relate to that, I was a true kid at the beginning of Rock n Roll. I remember, shockingly, my grandmother loved Elvis. Alan Freed came to me nightly from WINS radio in NY beginning in 1954—I can still remember falling asleep to the haunting sound of Elvis’s “Don’t.”
https://www.history-of-rock.com/freed.htm
Memphis was home to Elvis, Graceland, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, BBKing, Stax Records, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam&Dave, and Carla Thomas. Here you have the Great Smithsonian’s Rock N’ Soul Museum. We got BBKing and Beale Street.
https://www.staxrecords.com/ https://www.memphisrocknsoul.org/
How about the Grisham Movies shot here like The Firm, The Rain Maker, and the Client; or Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line; Jerry Lee Lewis-Dennis Quaid–Great Balls of Fire, Terrance Howard Hustle and Flow and Tom Hanks The Castaway.
Or Songs like Chuck Berry and Johnny Rivers, “Long Distance Information give me Memphis Tennessee.” WCHandy-“Memphis Blues”; Johnny Cash-“Going to Memphis”; “Night Train to Memphis”; “Walking in Memphis.” Or Sam and Dave: “Hold on I’m coming.” And let no one forget Otis Reading’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.” When you think the Blues&Soul and Rock n Roll–you think Memphis.
You know what else we are talking about?? Food! World Famous BBQ ribs, done Memphis Style @ the Rendezvous, The Blue City Café, Silky O’Sullivan’s, Central BBQ and BBKings Blues Club. Have you ever had the Mustard based cole slaw at the Rendezvous
What about Civil Rights History? Here we have the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, site of Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination.
It was in Memphis that Dr. King did his last speech,” I have been to the Mountaintop.”
https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/
But before visiting all the sites, I have to check in at the Historic Peabody Hotel. Yes, it is famous for the Ducks walking to the pool in the Foyer, but it is so much more. It is a Historic Hotel of America. It is home to Tom Cruise and Grisham’s The Firm. Long before that, it was a Memphis Landmark where Robert E. Lee stayed, Nathan Bedford Forest, the worst President of all Andrew Johnson, William McKinley, and Jefferson Davis lived there.
http://www.peabodymemphis.com/
I could go on and on about Memphis. Let’s understand that I am not a musician or singer, but Rock n Roll developed in my generation. I was a kid for Bill Haley, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Ricky Nelson et all. I was a teenager for Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys, and The Beatles. I was in college and the Military during the reign of the Supremes, Otis Reading, the Great Marvin Gaye, Smokey, The Temptations, the Jackson’s and the entire Motown sound. They were my music. Still are. So much so that I should do an article on Memphis and Rock n Roll. It feels good just to remember it. Want to feel good? To paraphrase Bill Parsons “All American Boy” you should:
“Split for Memphis where they say you all and them
swinging cats are a havin a ball.”
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