Savanna Studio 2012: Day 8

Today we explored the birthplace of blues, Beale Street in Memphis Tennessee. The weather was a little chilly, made colder by the wind. We had a Beale Street history lesson in Robert Church Senior Park. Some of the fun facts from that sit down were:

Used to be a rich merchant district with mansions away from the river, and shipyards and stores down by the riverfront
Robert Church Sr. bought most of the land surrounding Beale street after the Yellow Fever epidemic in the 1870's
1890's began Beale Streets first success as a Cultural Nexus, a hub of Southern music
1903 was W.C Handy's arrival to Beale Street
Roaring twenties welcomed the height of Beale Street as a musical cultural district
Beale street died during the Great Depression and didn't start to come back till the 1970's

After our history lesson, we walked down to the riverfront to explore the area known as Beale Street Landing. The teachers were surprised to find that we would not be able to aptly experience the landing because of the construction being done for a new Beale Street Landing. We did explore Beale Street in our pairs to generate what would fit in with both Memphis and Beale Street. Tonight we have been working on our renvision of the Beale Street Landing of our own. We have made natural history plans, and cultural plans. The teachers surprised us with a group pizza dinner, with pizza from a local pizza place, soda, and candy. Fully sugared and caffeinated we are now are working on combining our natural and culture plans into a landing that reflects all of Beale Street and Memphis' history.