THE PRESLEYS DISCOVER GRACELAND
It turned out that Vernon Presley didn't ever have to approach
the neighbors with Elvis's counteroffer. While Elvis had been in Los Angeles
in March of 1957 filming Loving You, Mr. and Mrs. Presley had looked at
an estate off of Highway 51 South in Whitehaven, close to the Tennessee-Mississippi
border. It was nearly fourteen acres of wooded land around a beautiful
brick mansion. The place was empty and needed a lot of work, but the Presleys
felt it would make a perfect, private home for the family. Elvis hadn't
seen it yet, but the beauty and peace and quiet of the estate was captured
in its name: GRACELAND.
Just days before I headed out of town with Elvis to begin
my career as a "travel companion," he and I took an afternoon drive together
down Highway 51 South so that he could take a look at the property his
mother and father were so excited about. Graceland wasn't much more than
a shell of a house when we first saw it, but I can tell you that Elvis
fell in love with the place right away. There wasn't any kind of neighborhood
at all around it back in those days, and driving up the driveway to the
house you had the feeling you were approaching some secluded, forgotten
palace.
What was really amazing, even on that first visit, was
the feeling the grounds gave you. There was a peacefulness and a serenity
there that made it more comfortable than any place I'd ever been. I know
Elvis felt it, too, because within days he'd worked out a purchase deal
and had started hiring designers and contractors to work on the new home.—
