Day 1 You'll See:
Day 2 You'll See:
This 2-Day Memphis Educational Tour is the perfect weekend education experience for any age group or interest. See the most popular attractions in town while learning all along the way, your journey taking you from iconic Beale Street to a metal museum hidden gem.
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Beale Street
Beale Street is a 2-mile beacon of cafes and restaurants, raucous clubs, live music, street performers, an array of kitschy novelty and eclectic specialty shops, music stores, houses of worship, theaters, pool halls, landmark museums and historic points of interest with a distinctly Southern-fried appeal steeped in a richly authentic Blues culture and feel. It may have seen its heyday in the 1920s, but it certainly hasn't lost any of its quintessential Memphis appeal since then.
Rock 'n' Soul Museum
Visitors here are introduced to the brave musical pioneers who overcame daunting racial and socio-economic barriers to craft the music that would ultimately shape a city. Located at 191 Beale Street, the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, developed in unique cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution, offers guests a personal and comprehensive Memphis music experience they won’t soon forget, with a convenient digital audio tour presenting more than five hours of music and fascinating information ushering guests at their own pace through seven galleries filled with wonderful musical artifacts and surprising treasures, summarily providing a detailed and intriguing cross-section of the rich history of that unmistakable, unforgettable sweet Delta sound.
National Civil Rights Museum
Through a comprehensive series of interactive exhibits including A Culture of Resistance, The Rise of Jim Crow, World in Transition, Join the Movement and The King’s Last Hours, fascinating historic collections and a range of dynamic speakers and special events, a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum leads groups on an enlightening and immersive journey through five centuries of history. From the dawn of the resistance and through the Civil War and reconstruction to significant events of the late twentieth century that inspired people around the world to rise, step away from an oppressive heritage of stolen futures and mournful predisposition, shake off the heavy chains of segregation and stand for equality.
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Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum
Visitors to the Burkle Estate, just a few minutes from iconic Beale Street, are treated to a well-presented tour of the modest clapboard house and grounds, wonderfully preserved and recreated in the manner of its day of service with historical documents, period furniture, hand-stitched quilts and other relevant artwork and well attended by passionate, knowledgeable guides who supply the details of the darkly oppressive days of slavery during Jacob Burkle’s time, and the way in which many were aided, en route to possible freedom, with safe-haven provided in the home. Guests will learn how slaves transmitted coded information via songs (spirituals) and quilt patterns to escape captivity and are shown the cellar, secret crawl spaces and trap doors they used to access refuge on the property, where they would silently wait for the right time to continue on their perilous journey upriver.
Fire Museum of Memphis
Welcome to the 'Mid-South's hottest attraction', the Fire Museum of Memphis. This historic firehouse is America's premier interactive fire museum, an interesting educational attraction located in the legendary Fire Engine House No.1 in downtown Memphis. Part of the National Register of Historic Places, this turn of the century firehouse provides artifacts, interactive safety programs, and historic fire engines for your group to explore. Your group will be able to fight flames, look at horse-drawn equipment from the past, plan an escape route and see if they survive, feel the heat of the FedEx Fire room, learn about Memphis' most devastating fires, and discover the proud history of Memphis' first African American firefighters.
Metal Museum
The museum was founded by artist-blacksmith James Wallace. It features various exhibits and collections of metalwork, as well as public metalsmith programs and onsite demonstrations. You will find a working blacksmith shop onsite, as well as a display sculpture garden. Your group will enjoy walking around and taking in all the items from the permanent collection, including such famous works as the 1981 Cross by Breduhl, Sturm Sculpture, Skyline 4 by Kosugi, Tripoid by Bush, and the entire collection on the second floor called 'Beauty in the Boundary'.