Historic Shelby County

This tour of Memphis goes well beyond the traditional guidebook to offer a historical journey through the Home of the Blues. Explore the city's African American heritage from Church Park to beautiful Mason Temple, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final, prophetic speech. Visit Court Square, where a young Thomas Edison delighted children and adults with his popular invention: the cockroach shocker. Discover hidden gems like the nineteenth-century dueling grounds on the banks of the Mississippi and a charming Depression-era country store. From Beale Street to the bluffs, author Bill Patton traces the incomparable history of Memphis.