Ever sinceGraceland openedits distinctive , music - inspired William Henry Gates to the world in June 1982 , the Memphis mansion has serve well as a pilgrimage terminus forElvis Presleyfans and just about everyone else . And though it ’s been more than 40 years since Elvis ornament its mansion , faculty member keep the spot look almost on the dot like it did when he live there — down to the ( now empty ) spice container in the kitchen cabinet . Here are nine fact you might not have known about rock-and-roll ‘ n ’ roster ’s most famous estate .
1. Graceland is named after one of the original owners.
Before Graceland became part of rock ‘ n ’ roll history , the landbelongedto the Toof crime syndicate . S.C. Toof was a 19th - C businessman known for his publish company , and his daughter , Grace Toof Ward , was the plot ’s namesake . Grace herself owned a few hundred acres of the land , which had pass to her baby , Ruth Toof Brown , by 1939 . Ruth and her husband then gave a lump to their daughter — also discover Ruth — and her married man , Thomas Moore . The couple constructed a stately mansion on the place and named that Graceland , too .
2. Elvis bought Graceland when he was only 22 years old.
Ruth and her husband divorced in 1952 , and she thensoldthe house — along with 13.8 Acre of surrounding land — to a 22 - year - oldElvis PresleyinMarch 1957for $ 102,500 . Elvis had already been know in Memphis and his celebrity had recentlyskyrocketed , so Graceland tender some much - take privacy . At the sentence , he was busyfilmingJailhouse Rock(1957 ) , so his parents and grandmother actually actuate into the mansion about five weeks before he did .
3. Graceland played host to a lot of animals.
Elvis and his familyownedplenty of vulgar pets and farm animals , including weenie , volaille , ducks , hogs , horse , and donkey ( the donkey stay in the empty puddle while workers finished building Graceland ’s perimeter fence ) . Elvis also owned a Republic of Turkey nominate Bowtie and a mynah bird that pick up its favorite phrases from one - sided telephone calls , like “ Elvis is asleep ” and “ Elvis is n’t here . ” A couple of primates interest Graceland , too : a Pan troglodytes named Scatter and a squirrel rascal refer Bambi .
For other brute , Graceland finish up just being a stop . Elvis donate his Inachis io to the Memphis Zoo because they kept pecking the key off his cars . Two wallaby , sent by Australian fans on disjoined affair , were also break to the zoo .
4. Elvis kept Graceland’s kitchen stocked with very specific items.
Elvis’saffinityfor fry goober pea butter and banana tree sandwiches has been well - documented , but it was n’t the only snack he wanted on hand . The Graceland kitchen ( which is carpeted)alwayshad to have banana pudding , ingredient for meat loaf , fudge cookie , fresh orange succus , sparkler ointment , brownies , shred coconut , hot dogs , solid ground stave steak , cooky , and gum , among other things . There was also a clit installed beneath the dining room tabular array so Elvis could mobilise another dish without call out .
5. Graceland’s Jungle Room doubled as a recording studio.
6. Bruce Springsteen snuck onto the Graceland estate in 1976.
After a Memphisconcertin 1976 , Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band guitar player Steven Van Zandt were be after to head to a buffet car when their taxi driver mention that Elvis live nearby . “ You have a go at it where Elvis lives ? ” Springsteen said . “ Take us there the right way now ! ” Upon arrival at Graceland , he scaled the stone wall and got as far as the front door before a security guard stopped him and said Elvis was out of town . “ I allege , ‘ okay , well , can you secernate him — and I generally do n’t like to do this , but — that Bruce Springsteen was here ? And he may not know who that is , but I was just on the cover ofTIMEandNewsweek , ’ ” he recalled onThe Graham Norton Show . “ That ’s as close as I ever get to Elvis Presley . ”
7. Elvis’s aunt still lived at Graceland even after it became a museum.
The primary downstairs bedroom was originallyoccupiedby Elvis ’s parents , Vernon and Gladys ( Gladys in person helped design the bathroom ’s pink , poodle - covered wallpaper ) . By the 1980s , they had both passed away , and Vernon ’s baby Delta had moved into the chamber . When Gracelandopenedto the public in June 1982 , that room was plainly left off the tour . Delta continued living there for more than a ten , while thousands of people file away through the house , gawking at the keepsake of all her asleep family members . She passed away in 1993 , and her bedroom was contribute to the tour the following year .
8. There are two airplanes at Graceland.
Elvis ’s total airplanetallycame to five , and two of them — the Hound Dog I and the Hound Dog II — are available to tour at Graceland . Hound Dog I , a Convair 880 he buy in 1975 , is probably the more tricked - out of the two . Though the fountain only be Elvis $ 250,000 , he shelled out another $ 800,000 or so to install a main sleeping accommodation , a ride elbow room , two half - bathrooms , a group discussion room , a stereo system system , and plenty of luxurious furniture . He also called it the “ Lisa Marie , ” after his daughter , and “ Flying Graceland . ”
9. Visitors aren’t allowed upstairs at Graceland.
On August 16 , 1977 , Elvisdiedat age 42 from spirit unsuccessful person ( possibly a event of prescription medicine drug use of goods and services ) in the bathroom of his upstairs sleeping room rooms . To this day , that part of the household is off - limits to everyone but family members and Graceland staff . Angie Marchese , Graceland ’s frailty chairperson of archives and exhibits , revealedduring an Instagram tour that the sleeping room has n’t changed at all since Elvis lived there .
“ It looks as if he just got up and allow for , ” she tell . “ The disc on the platter player is the last record he listened to . There ’s a Styrofoam cup that sit on a bookshelf . The bed is made . So , yeah , we really keep it the elbow room Lisa [ Marie Presley ] wants us to preserve it . ” The record book is an acetate disc that J.D. Sumner and the stamp send right to Elvis soon after record it , but Marchese is n’t sure what song is on it — the label just reads “ The Stamps . ”
