Places to see in West Tennessee

West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the State of Tennessee. Of the three, it is the one that is most sharply defined geographically. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River on the west and the Tennessee River on the east. This region's boundaries have been expanded slightly to include all of Hardin County, which is bisected by the Tennessee River.

Unlike the geographic divisions of most American states, the term West Tennessee has a legal as well as a socio-economic meaning. West Tennessee, East Tennessee, and Middle Tennessee are Tennessee's three Grand Divisions. According to the State Constitution, no more than two of Tennessee Supreme Court's five Justices can be residents of any one Grand Division, and the Supreme Court rotates meeting in courthouses in each of the three divisions. The State Supreme Court building for West Tennessee is in Jackson, Tennessee. Similar rules apply to certain other State Commissions and Boards, as well, to prevent them from showing any geographical biases.

West Tennessee also corresponds to telephone company Area Codes. Until the year 2001, West Tennessee, including all of Hardin County, was in the Area Code 901. After a large amount of population growth necessatated two Area Codes for West Tennessee, Memphis and its northern and eastern suburbs retained the 901 Area Code, with the remainder of West Tennessee being placed into Area Code 731.

West Tennessee is by slight amounts less populous and smaller in land area than the other two Grand Divisions. At the time of the 2000 U.S. Census West Tennessee had 1,499,802 inhabitants living in its 21 counties, and these have a combined land area of approx. 27,582 km² (10,650 square mi). West Tennessee's population was about 26.4 percent of the state's total, and its land area is about 25.8 percent of the state's land area. West Tennessee's population density was about 140 persons per square mile (54.4 persons per square kilometer) at the time of the 2000 United States Census.

Memphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers.

Memphis has an estimated population of 670,100, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee, the third largest in the Southeastern United States, and the 19th largest in the United States.

The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, has a population of 1,280,533. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville, which overtook Memphis in recent years.

Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's four major cities (traditionally including Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville). A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as the "Mid-South."

The Pyramid Arena is a 20,142-seat arena located in downtown Memphis at the banks of the Mississippi River. The facility was built in 1991 and was originally owned and operated jointly by the city of Memphis and Shelby County. Its unique structure plays on the city's namesake in Egypt, known for its ancient pyramids. It is 321 feet (98m, about 32 stories) tall and has base sides of 591 ft; it is the sixth largest pyramid in the world behind the Great Pyramid of Giza (456 ft), Khafre's Pyramid (448 ft), Luxor Hotel (348 ft), the Red Pyramid (341 ft) and the Bent Pyramid (332 ft), both in Dahshur. It is also slightly (about 16 feet) taller than the Statue of Liberty. A statue of Ramesses the Great stands in front of the pyramid.

The Pyramid Arena has not been regularly used as a sports venue since 2004. In April 2009, the Shelby County Commission voted to sell the county's 50 percent share of the building to the city of Memphis.McMillin, Zack. Once filled to the rafters, Pyramid sits empty as its future is debated. Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sunday, May 10, 2009.

Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of the blues. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are major tourist attractions in Memphis. Festivals and outdoor concerts periodically bring large crowds to the street and its surrounding areas. Though given an exemption by the state of Tennessee to keep clubs open until 5 a.m., there is now an effort to reduce the hours to a 3 am closing time.

Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis. It is located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about twelve miles (19 km) from Downtown and less than four miles (6 km) north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as a museum. It was opened to the public in 1982, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991 and declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006.

Elvis Presley died at the estate on August 16, 1977. Presley, his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother, are buried there in what is called the Meditation Gardens.

The Peabody Hotel is a luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The hotel is well known for the famous "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop, but which make daily treks to the hotel's lobby in a daily "March of Ducks" celebration.

Category: File - :Peabody Hotel, Memphis, TN.jpg|thumb|200px|right|View of the Peabody on Union Avenue

The Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium in Memphis, Tennessee, serves as the Mid-South's major science and historical museum, and features exhibits ranging from archeology to chemistry. Over 240,000 visitors are counted in the museum each year.Welcome to the Pink Palace Family

The museum is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, a collection of historic, educational, and technological attractions maintained by the City of Memphis and Memphis Museums, Inc. The Lichterman Nature Center, the first accredited nature center in the United States, is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, as well as the Coon Creek Science Center, an education center which is open to organized groups and features a fossil site.Welcome to the Pink Palace Family

The Mallory-Neely House and Magevney House are also part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, but are currently closed due to city budget constraints. The Mallory-Neely House is a three-story Italianate Victorian mansion built in 1852, and features 25 rooms and most of its original furnishings. The Magevney House, an 1830s cottage furnished as it might have been in 1850, is one of the city's oldest remaining residences.

The Sharpe Planetarium features 165-seat theater-in-the-round auditorium and offers public shows that project star fields, visual images, and laser lights on a domed ceiling. The Crew Training International IMAX Theater opened on January 21, 1995 and features a four-story high movable screen. Welcome to the Pink Palace Family The Pink Palace Museum, the Sharpe Planetarium and the Crew Training International IMAX Theater are accredited members of the American Association of Museums.

Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jifixqthldte]

Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley (whose recording contract was sold to RCA Victor Records for $35,000 in 1955 to relieve financial difficulties they were going through), Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Buddy McNeil, and Johnny Cash their first recording contracts and helping to launch their careers. Before those days Sun Records had mainly been noted for recording African-American artists, as Phillips loved Rhythm and Blues and wanted to get black music recorded for a white audience. It was Sun record producer and engineer, Jack Clement, who discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis, while owner Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida. The original Sun Records logo was designed by John Gale Parker, Jr., a resident of Memphis and high school classmate of Phillips.

Sun Studio was opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s.

Category: Image - :Sunoffice2005.jpg|thumb|left|The front office of the Sun Studio, where office manager Marion Keisker worked and greeted many artists on their first visit to the studio, including a young Elvis Presley.

Rock-and-roll, country music, and rockabilly artists, including unknowns recording demos and others like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis, signed to the Sun Records label recorded there throughout the latter 1950s until the studio outgrew its Union Avenue location. Sam Phillips opened the larger Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio, better known as Phillips Recording, in 1959 to take the place of the older facility. Since Sam had invested in the Holiday Inn Hotel chain earlier, he also recorded artist starting in 1963 on the label Holiday Inn Records for Kemmons Wilson.

In 1969, Sam Phillips sold the label to Shelby Singleton, and there was no recording-related or label-related activity again in the building until the September 1985 Class of 55 recording sessions with Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, produced by Chips Moman.

In 1957, Bill Justis recorded his Grammy Hall of Fame song "Raunchy" for Sam Phillips and worked as a musical director at Sun Records.

In 1987, the original building housing the Sun Records label and Memphis Recording Service was reopened as "Sun Studio", a recording business and tourist attraction that has attracted many notable artists including U2, who recorded tracks for Rattle and Hum there on newer equipment Sun had purchased from producer Terry Manning.

In May 2009, Canadian blues artist JW-Jones recorded with blues legend Hubert Sumlin, Larry Taylor and Richard Innes for his 2010 release at the studio.

In July 2009, John Mellencamp recorded nine songs for his album No Better than This'' at the studio.

Memphis Motorsports Park, founded in 1986 on a 400-acre tract, was an auto racing park located across the Loosahatchie River from Memphis, Tennessee, approximately ten miles south of Millington, Tennessee. It is currently owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc., which is seeking a buyer for the complex. It includes a 3/4-mile short track which used to host NASCAR Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series races, and an ASA Late Model Series race. An adjacent drag strip used to host such events as National Hot Rod Association, American Drag Racing League, AMA Dragbike Championship Series and the Super Chevy Show.

Prior to the closure of this track, Ron Hornaday Jr. won the final Camping World Truck Series race on June 27, 2009 and

Brad Keselowski did on October 24, 2009 in the Nationwide Series' 11th and final race at MMP.

Memphis Motorsports Park closed October 30, 2009. Its parent company, Dover Motorsports, Inc. announced that it was ceasing all operations at Memphis Motorsports Park and that it would not be promoting any events in Memphis in 2010. The Memphis facility had been under an agreement of sale to Gulf Coast Entertainment but Gulf Coast was unable to secure financing.

See also: List of NASCAR race tracks

Millington is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, this town had a population of about 10,433. Millington is the home of the Memphis Motorsports Park. It was granted the title "Flag City Tennessee" by the Tennessee State Legislature. Millington is the location of the Naval Support Activity Mid-South, which is located at the former Memphis Naval Air Station, which was closed in 1993. Also at that location is now a civilian General Aviation airport for jets and propeller-driver airplanes,

The Memphis Redbirds are the Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They play their home games at AutoZone Park in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The stadium's capacity is 14,320. They entered the Pacific Coast League (PCL) as an expansion team in 1998, and are owned as a non-profit community entity. In September 2008, the Cardinals extended their player development agreement with the Redbirds through 2012. The parent club is also currently involved in negotiations to purchase the Triple-A affiliate.

The club operates a number of programs in the community. The Memphis Redbirds Foundation is a non-profit program that uses its funds to enable children to participate in sports across the Memphis area. The RBI (Returning Baseball to the Inner-City) program is an instructional baseball and softball summer program for boys and girls ages 6 to 15. The STRIPES (Sports Teams Returning In The Public Education System) program runs during the school year, and helps fund baseball and softball teams for middle and junior high schools in the Memphis City School System.

Since the team's inception in 1998, the Redbirds have made it to the PCL playoffs twice. The team has gone all the way to winning the league championship in both years.

The Memphis Grizzlies are a professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Along with the Toronto Raptors, the Grizzlies were established in 1995 as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada. The team originated that year in Vancouver, British Columbia and relocated to Memphis in 2001. The team's majority owner is Michael Heisley, who controls a 95% share of the franchise; the remaining 5% is controlled by several local owners, including AutoZone founder J. R. ("Pitt") Hyde, his wife Barbara Hyde, equity manager Staley Cates, and former NBA player and University of Memphis point guard Elliot Perry.David Williams, Grizzlies partners truly in minority, The Commercial Appeal, March 27, 2008

The Memphis Zoo, located in Midtown Memphis, Tennessee, is home to more than 3,500 animals representing over 500 different species. Created in April 1906, the zoo has been a major tenant of Overton Park for more than 100 years. The land currently designated to the Memphis Zoo was defined by the Overton Park master plan in 1988, it is owned by the City of Memphis. The zoo is set on , of which approximately are developed.

In 2008, the Memphis Zoo was ranked "#1 Zoo in the U.S." by TripAdvisor.com. The ranking was based on visitor opinions.

Since the early 1990s, the Memphis Zoo has invested over $77 million for renovation and expansion. The zoo's animal inhabitants reside in three zones with 19 exhibits, such as Teton Trek, Northwest Passage and China, home to Giant Pandas Ya Ya and Le Le.

The Memphis Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Giant Pandas Ya Ya and Le Le are trademarks of the Memphis Zoo.

Tom Lee Park is a city park located to the immediate west of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. Encompassing about 30 acres (0.12 km²) parallel to the Mississippi River for about one mile (1.6 km), it offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River and the shores of Arkansas on the opposite side.

The park is named after Tom Lee, an African-American riverworker, who saved the lives of 32 passengers of the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman in 1925.

Luxury homes and condominiums line the top of the bluff overlooking the park and the river.

The park hosts events throughout the year, perhaps most notably the major weekend events during Memphis in May.

Tom Lee Park is a popular location for walkers, joggers, roller bladers and cyclists.

Shiloh National Military Park preserves the American Civil War Shiloh and Corinth battlefields. The main section of the park is in the unincorporated town of Shiloh, about nine miles (14 km) south of Savannah, Tennessee, with an additional area located in the city of Corinth, Mississippi, 23 miles (37 km) southwest of Shiloh. The Battle of Shiloh began a six-month struggle for the key railroad junction at Corinth. Afterwards, Union forces marched from Pittsburg Landing to take Corinth in a May siege, then withstood an October Confederate counter-attack.

Natchez Trace State Park is a state park located in western Tennessee.

Natchez Trace State Park was named for the famous Natchez Trace, a Natchez, Mississippi-to-Nashville highway that was an important wilderness road during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. With the many acres of scenic woodlands, the park includes four lakes, a swimming beach, a 47 room resort inn and restaurant complex, cabins, group lodge, camping areas, picnicking sites, playgrounds, a ballfield, a regulation pistol firing range, picturesque hiking trails, a wrangler camp, 250 miles (400 km) of horse riding trails, a park store, and archery range. Natchez Trace is located in Carroll, Henderson, and Benton counties, near the town of Wildersville, Tennessee. Interstate 40 dissects the park, which sits about equidistant from Memphis and Nashville.

Reelfoot Lake is a shallow natural lake located in the northwest portion of Tennessee and extending into Fulton County, Kentucky, United States of America. Much of it is really more of a swamp, with bayou-like ditches (some natural, some man-made) connecting more open bodies of water called basins, the largest of which is called Blue Basin. Reelfoot Lake is noted for its bald cypress trees and its nesting pairs of bald eagles. It is the site of Reelfoot Lake State Park. Lake Isom, a similar, smaller lake to the immediate south, is a National Wildlife Refuge area.

Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 59,643 at the 2000 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area. Jackson is the county seat of Madison County.

Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 - January 19, 1998) was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee beginning during 1954. His best known song is "Blue Suede Shoes."

According to Charlie Daniels, "Carl Perkins' songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins' sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed." The Rockabilly Legends; They Called It Rockabilly Long Before they Called It Rock and Roll by Jerry Naylor and Steve Halliday page 118 ISBN I-4234-2042-x Perkins' songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Johnny Cash, which further cemented his place in the history of popular music.

Called "the King of Rockabilly", he was inducted into the Rock and Roll, the Rockabilly, and the Nashville Songwriters halls of fame; and was a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient.

The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx are a minor league baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The team is located in Jackson, Tennessee, and plays their home games at Pringles Park; opened in 1998, the park currently hold 6,000 fans.

John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 - April 30, 1900) was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi on a foggy and rainy night. His dramatic death trying to stop his train and save lives made him a folk hero who became immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC. Due to the enduring popularity of this classic song, he has been the world's most famous railroad engineer for over a century.

The Pinson Mounds comprise a prehistoric Native American complex located in Madison County, Tennessee. The complex, which includes 17 mounds, an earthen geometric enclosure, and numerous habitation areas, was most likely built during the Middle Woodland period (c. 1-500 A.D.).

The Pinson Mounds are now part of Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, one of two archaeological parks in Tennessee (the other being Old Stone Fort near Manchester). Pinson Mounds is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Union City is a city in Obion County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,876 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Obion County. The name comes from its location at the union of two railroads, one running roughly east-west and the other roughly north-south. Union City is best known for two things: It was the site of a minor battle in the Civil War in March 1864, and it has a Goodyear Tire Plant.

Union City is the principal city of the Union City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Obion County and Fulton County, Kentucky.

Paris is a city in Henry County, Tennessee, 86 miles (138 km) west of Nashville, on a fork of the West Sandy River. In 1900, 2,018 people lived in Paris, Tennessee; in 1910, 3,881; and in 1940, 6,395. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 9,763. It is the county seat of Henry County.

A tall replica of the Eiffel Tower stands in Paris.http://www.paristnchamber.com/eiffeltower.htm Paris, TN Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved on 2008-02-17. Paris is also home of the "World's Biggest Fish Fry".

Buford Hayse Pusser (December 12, 1937 - August 21, 1974) was the Sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee (in West Tennessee), from 1964 to 1970. Pusser is known for his virtual one-man war on moonshining, gambling, and other vices on the Mississippi-Tennessee border. His story has directly inspired several books, movies and two movie remakes and at least one TV series. The Buford Pusser Museum [http://www.bufordpussermuseum.com/] has been established at the house where he was living at the time of his death in 1974. A Buford Pusser Festival is held each May in his hometown of Adamsville, Tennessee.