On January 8, 1935, Elvis Presley and his twin brother Jesse were born in TUPELO , an industrial town in northeastern Mississippi. Jesse died at birth, while Elvis grew up to be a truck driver. Their parents, Gladys and Vernon Presley, who lived in poor, white East Tupelo, found it hard to make ends meet. Such was the financial strain of rearing the young Elvis that his sharecropper father was reduced to forgery in a desperate attempt to raise cash, and was jailed for three years. Their home was repossessed, and the family moved to Memphis in 1948.

Tupelo CVB , 399 E Main St (tel 662/841-6521 or 1-800/533-0611, ), has details of a four-mile driving tour that takes in Elvis's first school and the shop where he bought his first guitar. The town doesn't go in for overkill, however; Main Street is a long, placid stretch of faceless buildings with not a giftshop to be seen. The actual Elvis Presley Birthplace , 306 Elvis Presley Drive (Mon-Sat 9am-5.30pm, Sun 1-5pm; $2), is tiny. A two-room shotgun house, built for $150 in 1934, it has been refurnished to look as it did when Elvis was born, with the judicious addition of a large can of lard in the kitchen and a love-seat swinging from the porch. The separate museum alongside (same hours; $5) is filled with memorabilia collected by a family friend of the Presleys, Janelle McComb, and includes her photos of, poems about, and shrines to the King, as well as selling everything from matchbooks to Elvis pendulum clocks with swinging legs (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $1). Nearby, a modern meditation chapel was built with donations from fans, but oddly the pews and altar remain roped off to visitors.

Among local motels , there's a central Comfort Inn , 1190 Gloster St (tel 662/842-5100, fax 662/844-0554, ; $50-75), and other chain accommodations close by. Main Attraction , 214 W Main St (tel 662/842-9617), is a vintage clothing store with eccentric accessories that also holds a coffee bar , while there's more substantial Italian and Greek food at Vanelli's , 1302 Gloster St (tel 662/844-4410).