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Holly Springs
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Centering on a neat courthouse square,
HOLLY SPRINGS
is a time-warped little town that's said to have changed hands 62 times during the Civil War; the minutiae of its otherwise uneventful history fill three splendidly eclectic floors in the local
museum
at 220 E College Ave (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-2pm; $3). Were it not for
Graceland Too
, 200 E Gholson Ave (open 24hrs year-round; $5), however, Holly Springs would today be of little note. The home of Paul McLeod and his son, Elvis Aaron Presley McLeod, this shrine to the King is a quite remarkable labor of love. Walls, ceiling and stairwells are crammed with memorabilia from the kitsch to the priceless, and, just as in Graceland, the upper floor is blocked off - the stairs lined with glassy-eyed mannequins kitted out in Elvis and Priscilla outfits. The McLeods insist that this is above all an archive and research center; as well as collecting records, cuttings and books, they work around the clock to monitor and log every reference to Elvis transmitted on TV and radio. Tours last up to three hours, depending on the mood of your hosts and how busy they are compiling Elvis info. During the tour everyone has their photo taken to be entered into a record of those visited; you can also have your photo taken with both McLeods and also buy infinitesimal snips of rug from Graceland's Jungle Room.
There's no reason to spend a night in Holly Springs, but it's well worth pausing for a
meal
. Housed in a former "blind tiger" (brothel) beside the railroad tracks east of town,
Phillips Grocery
, 541 E Van Dorn Ave (tel 662/252-4671), is a ramshackle old grocery store that serves sublime fresh-ground hamburgers and Southern vegetables. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United States,
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