In March 1957, when Elvis Presley was a rising star looking for a decent home that would provide him with the privacy he needed, the 22-year-old singer purchased the sprawling Graceland estate. Today it is a National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited homes in America.
1. Elvis paid $102,500 for Graceland — that equates to about $924,000 today.
2. When Elvis bought Graceland, the lot was just under 14 acres and just over 10,000 square feet. Today, the mansion occupies over 17,500 square meters.
3. Graceland has five flights of stairs.
4. Graceland is the second most visited home in the United States, with more than 700,000 visitors a year. The first? The White House.
5. The original owners, the Moores, gave Graceland its name in honor of Mrs. Moore’s aunt, Grace Toof.
6. Alongside Elvis’s fondness for fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, he insisted there were always cans of sauerkraut, fresh banana pudding and Doublemint gum in the kitchen.
7. Bruce Springsteen was one of many young men who entered Graceland hoping to meet the King. Unfortunately for him, Elvis wasn’t even home at the time of Springsteen’s daring (and illegal) act.
8. A portion of Graceland’s upstairs area is off-limits to the public. It was a private place where Elvis found solace from outside.
9. Because an attempt was made to steal Elvis’ from his burial site in Forest Hill Cemetery, he was reinterred with his mother, Gladys, in Graceland’s Meditation Garden in 1977.