BACKSTORY: Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and 13.8-acre estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis. Graceland currently serves as a museum which opened to the public on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991 and declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006. Graceland has become one of the most-visited private homes in America with over 600,000 visitors a year, behind the White House and Biltmore Estate (900,000 visitors per year). The most famous icon of the estate is the front gate, shaped like a book of sheet music, with green colored musical notes, and a sillouette of Elvis, it has come to symbolize the estate more than the mansion itself. Elvis died here on August 16, 1977. Presley, his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother, are buried there in what is called the Meditation Garden. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site. To find out more about Graceland or to book a visit, go to The Official Graceland website.
