The Top 5 Reasons to Visit Memphis, Tennessee Now
WRITTEN BY 5 REASONS TO VISIT® EDITORIAL STAFF
PUBLISHED AUGUST 2022 • 4 min read
Memphis, Tennessee is in the midst of an exciting evolution. Just a short stroll from the neon symphony of famous Beale Street, the South Main Historic Arts District has risen from the ashes—transforming once derelict warehouses into locally-owned boutiques and cool coffee spots.
1. THE SHOPPING
Laurelwood Shopping Center displays a mixture of fashion stores, a bundle of lifestyle shops, and culinary establishments. Located in the eastern part of Memphis, it’s an excellent shopping hub for specialized goods, home decor stores, as well as book and gift shops.
Laurelwood Shopping Center in Memphis, Tennessee
Laurelwood Shopping Center is Memphis’ single best gathering of fine stores. It is shopping of a higher standard, designed for those born with a passion for creativity, excellence and beauty. Charming, unique and distinct—expect to be impressed.
2. THE ART
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is one of the largest art museums in the American South and houses an outstanding collection of art dating from antiquity to the present. A center of cultural activity in Memphis, the museum provides visitors the opportunity to learn about the visual arts through diverse traveling exhibitions and thought-provoking in-house exhibitions.
Located at the heart of Memphis in historic Overton Park, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is a vibrant cultural complex that comprises 29 galleries. An assortment of exquisite galleries consist of the Sculpture Gallery, Artist Books, New Brooks Installation, French 19th Century, New Acquisitions, Contemporary Art, Art of the African Diaspora, Brooks Outside, Farris Gallery, Schilling Gallery, European Art 1650-1850, Moss Gallery, the Rotunda, American Gallery 1800-1950, Carroll Cloar Gallery, and the Education Gallery. Be sure to end your visit with the Outdoor Sculptures Collection. Aquacade, the bronze fountain in the Holly Court and three marble sculptures of the seasons by Wheeler Williams stand in front of the niches of the 1916 building. The lions that flank the West staircase originally ornamented the circa 1898 Hill Mansion on Union Avenue in Midtown.
Memphis, Tennessee is full of murals and public art. You can find the love Memphians have for their city through the art found literally everywhere. Bluff City is the place for art lovers. The entire city is crawling with so many different murals that it would be next to impossible to capture them all. So, if you’re an art-lover looking for your next Instagrammable spot, there are enough murals to keep everyone busy.
3. THE COCKTAILS & CUISINE
As a brand-new dining concept in Memphis, Dory is the first 100 percent six-course tasting menu and zero food waste restaurant in the city. The first course will be a vegetarian dish, followed by two fish or shellfish dishes, two heavier protein courses, and dessert. Along the way you'll have an amuse-bouche, intermezzo and mignardise. The six-course menu changes every other month and the four-course quarterly, with some substitutions as things from their farmers change. The lounge, which also offers light bites, is open Tuesday-Saturday and walk-ins are encouraged. For your artisanal mocktail fix, we recommend trying Thyme to Squash It—concocted with smoked thyme syrup, fermented local squash, satsuma, and ginger.
Dory in Memphis, Tennessee
Image Credit: Haze Photography for Edible Memphis
Crafted with sustainable, local and ethically-sourced ingredients with an array of dynamic flavors, favorite dishes at Dory include Squash Fritter with a green garlic emulsion, Seared Scallop finished on charcoal, smoked potato beurre blanc and roasted kale, Gnocchi with mushroom velouté and celery, as well as Striped Bass with bone stock, cured cabbage, preserved green plum, chili oil, and pea shoots.
Dietary restrictions and allergies are accommodated with advance notice, giving their culinary team time to write, source and prep a new dish based exactly on your needs. The dining room at Dory is open by reservation only, Tuesday-Saturday. On Tuesday night a four-course dinner is offered and on Wednesday-Saturday a six-course tasting menu is presented with an optional wine pairing. The menu changes quarterly on the second Tuesday of the month.
4. THE GARDENS
The 96-acre Memphis Botanic Garden includes 30 specialty gardens, offering a range of experiences for any interest. From Formal Gardens traditional to botanic gardens to experimental practices in Urban Home Garden, there is a myriad of spaces to explore year round. In addition to the Formal Gardens, the Lowlands has water that runs downhill throughout the Garden and collects here in pools, streams, and ponds. In the Japanese Garden plants are selected not to provide a multitude of color with flowers, but to embrace seasonal changes with bursts of color in the spring and fall and soothing shades of green in the summer. The Shade Gardens provide a welcome oasis in the South. The Woodland is a representation of a temperate deciduous forest biome, specifically an Oak-Hickory forest, found across the Eastern United States.
The southwest corner of the Memphis Botanic Garden was planted as an Arboretum in 1957. It includes an impressive collection of hollies, including a Lusterleaf Holly that is so large it gets confused with a Southern Magnolia. A massive Black Walnut and a beautiful grove of Chinese Chestnuts (in the Nursery area), as well as a Catalpa, a Katsura, a Hardy Rubber Tree, and a striking Japanese Maple complete the collection.
5. THE ARCHITECTURE
No trip to Memphis would be complete without a visit to Graceland. Home to Elvis Presley, he purchased the home in 1957 at the age of 22. The mansion was built in 1939 and was well-known to the locals of Memphis. The previous year for Presley had been a whirlwind—it was his first year of super-stardom including historic network television appearances, record-breaking live performances and armloads of gold record awards. At the time he bought Graceland, Elvis was working on his second motion picture, "Loving You," with "Jailhouse Rock" to follow, just the beginning of a long film career for Elvis Presley.
Image courtesy of Memphis Tourism
Although Elvis had various homes in the Los Angeles area and spent a great deal of time on the road with his concerts, Graceland was always home base. Step back in time as you stroll through the neighborhood once nicknamed Millionaire's Row, now known as Victorian Village. The mansions along Adams Avenue on the edge of downtown Memphis grew during the booming heyday of the mid-1800s, as wealthy cotton magnates and riverboat tycoons were beating down the door to move into this prosperous neighborhood. Originally built in 1848, the James Lee House stands as one of the city’s most important residences and is a vibrant example of Memphis’ early grandeur and opulence.
The most elaborate interior is found in the front and most recent section of the house, which includes plaster trim, plaster ceiling medallions, shaped moldings, and marble mantels. Rising from ancient magnolia trees, the circa 1871 Woodruff-Fontaine House stands as a reminder of an era long gone. You can no tour the French Victorian mansion and see how Memphis' first millionaires lived. One of Memphis’s treasured historic sites, the Mallory-Neely House is a 25-room Italianate mansion that is the only historic property in Memphis to still keep most of its original furnishings and is one of Memphis’ most visited historic homes. Built in 1852, the iconic home has been preserved in its pristine manner.
WHERE TO STAY IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
Elevate your hotel experience in the heart of downtown Memphis at The Westin Memphis Beale Street. The modern and luxurious four-diamond hotel boasts newly renovated guest rooms and suites, upscale dining and more—just steps away from the sights and sounds of Beale Street, the FedEx Forum and The Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum.
