Graceland, the Whitehaven estate Elvis Presley bought for $103,000 in 1957, next

week will join such national treasures as the Alamo, Pearl Harbor, the White House

and Mt. Vernon as a National Historic Landmark.

 

Interior Secretary Gale Norton will arrive in Memphis Monday to make the

designation official at a 10 a.m. ceremony on the grounds of the home Elvis

bought with earnings from his first hit record, "Heartbreak Hotel."

 

The designation will make Graceland one of 27 Tennessee sites among about

2,500 national landmarks listed by the Department of Interior.

The last Tennessee site added to the list was Sun Records in 2003. Elvis began

his recording career at the studio under the tutelage of legendary producer Sam

Phillips.

 

Other Shelby County sites on the list are the Beale Street historic district (on the

list since 1966) and Chucalissa Archaeological Museum (added in 1994).

The National Park Service, part of the Interior Department, explains on its Web site

that a National Historic Landmark is an "exceptional" place: "They form a common

bond between all Americans. While there are many historic places across the

nation, only a small number have meaning to all Americans -- these we call our

National Historic Landmarks."

 

Graceland was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. But in the

minds of many Americans, Graceland has been a national landmark for decades,

said Elvis Presley Enterprises chief executive officer Jack Soden. "Graceland is so

famous it is arguable that on a worldwide basis it is the second most famous home

in America. You go to the far corners of the Earth, and they don't really know what

Mt. Vernon or Monticello or Hearst Castle are, but they know what Graceland is. It

is kind of in a class of its own," said Soden, who annually plays host to more than

600,000 tourists from around the world.

 

The designation process began in 2002, initiated by a National Parks Service

official in Atlanta, Soden said. Interior Department spokesman John Wright said

the landmark designation does not limit Graceland or Elvis Presley Enterprises'

rights to make changes to the property within limits. "As long as they don't change

the historical significance, there is no problem."

 

Soden said the designation means no routine involvement by the Department of

Interior. "We were very careful about that," he said. "As much as we respect the

honor, we couldn't get into a situation where there were bureaucratic limitations on

what we could do at Graceland."

 

Soden said Graceland's goals are in "perfect harmony" with the national

landmarks program, which is one of preservation. "We have meticulously

maintained Graceland, but we couldn't get into a situation where we had to check

with a bureaucrat someplace if we needed to repaint the shutters."

 

(Article by: Michael Lollar)

 

www.elvis-express.com / Source: The Commercial Appeal

I Bet you're glad you didn't have to type all that lot out :lol:

Here's the link to todays Press Release

 

http://www.elvis.com/news/full_story.asp?id=988

Here's the link to todays Press Release

 

http://www.elvis.com/news/full_story.asp?id=988

 

Cheers Carole