Walking in Memphis

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Memphis



Another great time with Aaron & Patrick on their road drip - Today we were in Memphis.



What fun and such a delight to see the March of the Ducks at the Peabody Hotel.

Back in the 1930s Frank Shutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys in the beautiful Peabody fountain. Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Thus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous.®



In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991.

Nearly 90 years after the inaugural march, the ducks still visit the lobby fountain from 11am to 5pm. each day.



We strolled the length of Beale Street with its iconic music venues, theatres and even beer drinking goats, plus a few Elvis impersonations from both Aaron & Patrick.

The tour ended at the motel where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.



The Lorraine Motel was forever etched in America’s collective memory with the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, but even before that fateful day, the property at 450 Mulberry Street had a fascinating history in its own right. Before it was the Lorraine, it was the Marquette Hotel that catered to black clientele in segregated Memphis. Then, in 1945 black businessman Walter Bailey purchased the hotel, which he re-christened the Lorraine after his wife Loree and the popular jazz song, “Sweet Lorraine.”



Established in 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel.

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