Memphis

Day 1 · ~1.7 km

1. 

   1

   Cobblestone Landing

   Mid-1800s stone-paved river landing below Front Street, restored in 2025 with the new Union Avenue Overlook

   Morning · 20 min · free

   Walk down the sloping cobblestones toward the water and look at how the stones vary, from pink granite to speckled gneiss and gray limestone. Then go up to the Union Avenue Overlook for the view over the landing and the river. The sightseeing riverboats board here.

2. 

   2

   Cossitt Library

   Memphis' first public library, opened in 1893, now a small downtown branch behind a mid-century glass front

   Midday · 20 min · free

   Step in to see a compact working library in the building where public lending in Memphis began, then walk to the edge of Front Street for the view down to Cobblestone Landing and the river. Compare the mid-century glass front with the older sandstone wing beside it.

3. 

   3

   Memphis Art Museum

   New Herzog and de Meuron riverfront home of the former Brooks Museum, opening on 6 December 2026

   Midday · 15 min · free

   Until it opens, view the building from Front Street and from Cobblestone Landing below: brick walls in the earthy tones of Mississippi River clay on a rebuilt bluff. From December, go up to the rooftop sculpture garden and see the opening show of Hooks Brothers studio photographs.

4. 

   4

   Cotton Row

   Front Street blocks of cotton merchants' offices and warehouses, a National Register district since 1979

   Morning · 20 min · free

   Walk Front Street between Monroe and Gayoso avenues, looking at the plain brick fronts and the wide ground-floor doors made for moving bales in and out. Then turn onto Union Avenue to the old Cotton Exchange, now the Cotton Museum.

5. 

   5

   Cotton Museum

   Museum on the old trading floor of the Memphis Cotton Exchange, under its ceiling-high chalkboard of cotton prices

   Midday · 60 min · $

   Stand under the tall chalkboard where prices were posted and look into the old Western Union phone booths below it. Then work through the exhibits: grade a cotton sample, try to lift a picking sack, and read the sections on enslaved labor, sharecroppers and the blues.

6. 

   6

   Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous

   Basement barbecue restaurant down an alley opposite the Peabody, open since 1948 and known for dry-rub ribs

   Evening · 75 min · $$

   Walk into the alley off South Second Street, go down to the basement dining rooms and order the dry-rub ribs, the dish Charlie Vergos built the place on. Pair it with the Peabody duck march across the street.

7. 

   7

   The Peabody

   Grand hotel of 1925 where ducks march to the lobby fountain every day at 11am and 5pm

   Morning · 45 min · free

   Arrive about 30 minutes before 11am or 5pm and find a place along the route in the lobby to watch the Duckmaster lead the ducks across the lobby to the fountain, or back out at 5pm. Afterward, look around the lobby and the Union Avenue front of the 1925 building.

8. 

   8

   Orpheum Theatre

   1928 Rapp and Rapp movie palace at Main and Beale, with tours and the Balcony Project on segregation

   Evening · 60 min · $

   Book the hour-long campus tour for the gilded auditorium, the backstage murals and the Halloran Centre, or see a Broadway show. On Saturday mornings and Monday afternoons, step into the free Balcony Project on the Beale Street side.