Where in Mississippi is ... walls? Music and ministry fill the air in this tiny northwestern town.

What's in a name? Occasionally, not much. The Century-old moniker of the town of Walls is actually quite deceiving. Rather than a place that's isolated and closed off from the outside world, visitors find in this corner of northwestern Mississippi a picturesque hamlet that welcomes visitors from around the state--and around the world--to enter its unguarded borders. If they look closely enough, visitors will also discover a treasure trove of interesting stories and historical tidbits that make Walls one of Mississippi's most fascinating small towns.

Located west of Horn Lake in DeSoto County, Walls' name actually comes from Captain June Walls, a war veteran and an early settler and merchant here in the 1880s. The town's first brush with history came much earlier, however, when Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto reportedly made his 1541 discovery of the Mississippi River right here in Walls, officials say. Later, the town was named "Alpika" after an old Chickasaw Indian word, according to information provided by Brian Hicks, director of the Historic DeSoto County Museum, but the name was changed to Walls in 1906 in honor of the war hero.

In the early 1900s, Walls was a thriving town that boasted several stores, a movie theater, and a railroad depot. Today, Walls is less of a commercial center, though the town's area did increase significantly after a recent annexation combined it with the neighboring village of Memphis (no, not the one in Tennessee). The population is now about 1,170, according to Mayor Bobby Smith. Things may have quieted down, but the town is still a hub for agriculture, with crops including cotton, soybeans, rice, and corn. The area is also fertile ground for some fascinating local legends, perhaps the most famous of which originated in a little house at the corner of Goodman Road and Mississippi Highway 301.

This small house, just outside the city limits, is the most prominent remaining structure on a ranch owned by Elvis Presley from 1967 to 1970. How did the King wind up in Walls? Obviously, he was no stranger to Mississippi, but this purchase stemmed from necessity, not homesickness--he was running out of room to keep his many horses at Graceland, according to an Elvis fan website. On a motorcycle trip, he spotted a "For Sale" sign here and, in his own impulsive way, immediately decided to buy the land.

A March 13, 1967, article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported on Elvis's $437,000 purchase and his new pastime as a rancher. "After weeks of speculation, rumors, and non-committal answers, actor-singer Elvis Presley last week closed the purchase of a 160-acre ranch west of Horn Lake, Mississippi," the paper noted. Even before the deal was closed, according to the article, Elvis and his entourage were already taking over the place, naming it the "Circle G Ranch" and moving in "five house trailers ..., black Cadillacs, fancy sports cars and shiny new trucks ..." and erecting a quarter-mile-long temporary privacy fence made of plywood.

While he owned the place, Elvis and many of his family members and friends stayed there often. First cousin Donna Presley lived at the ranch for three years. "The first year that we moved there, there was a big snow, which is not something that happens around here very often, and Elvis loved snow," Donna recalled later in an interview with BBC News. "He took a tractor and hooked up aluminum boats from the pond there and dragged everyone around the ranch until he tore the bottom out of the boats. So it was just a fun-loving place--a place where we could all gather together as family and have friends there and just have a wonderful time."

According to a fan website, the ranch's small residence was transformed into Elvis's honeymoon cottage when he and new bride Priscilla decided to go there after their 1967 wedding to witness a horse giving birth.

"For him, it was a perfect retreat from Hollywood, and he was thrilled to move back to Mississippi," wrote Laura Victoria Levin and John O'Hara in the book Elvis & You: Your Guide to the Pleasures of Being an Elvis Fan. "The peacefulness and back-to-nature activities soothed him. Elvis enjoyed his time at the ranch riding horses in God's country, as he called it." But Elvis apparently lost that peaceful feeling quickly, because in 1970, he sold the ranch, according to cousin Donna, who then moved to Graceland.

Today, the little house is the home of a floral shop called Marianne's Flower Patch, but it still attracts fans from all over the world. Co-owners Marianne Banks and her mother, Debra Turner, took over the business about a year ago, and, unlike so many Elvis-associated places and people, they have no desire to exploit the building's connection to the rock and roll legend. "They come here expecting a museum, and we're happy they come, but we have to sell flowers all year long," Banks said.

But they don't deny adoring fans the chance to see a place where the King once lived. The store's front hallway holds a small table that humbly acknowledges the home's place in music history, holding Elvis books and a few pieces of memorabilia. Above the table, a small patch of red carpet that reportedly once graced Graceland hangs on the wall.

Of the hundreds of thousands of die-hard Presley fans from around the world who travel to Graceland each year, a few hundred are determined enough to find this more out-of-the-way former home of the singer. The crowds are heaviest in January and August, around the anniversaries of Elvis's birth and death. "We try to stock up on Elvis items then," Banks said, adding that guitar-shaped glass bottles handpainted with the Circle G Ranch logo are big sellers. The shop also regularly creates floral arrangements for Germany- and England-based Elvis fan clubs, Banks said.

Aside from the Flower Patch, the singer's former ranch has gone quiet; grassy fields and hay bales are just about all there is to see. But that could all change if an on-again, off-again plan to build a massive Elvis-themed resort on the property is realized. The proposed $600 million Circle G Resort, which would potentially also encompass a neighboring 317-acre parcel of land (all now under the jurisdiction of neighboring city Horn Lake after an annexation in 2002), would include "Las Vegas-style entertainment," a wedding chapel, a museum, two golf courses, a hotel, a spa, and even replicas of Elvis and Priscilla's honeymoon cottage. When plans for the resort were announced in March 2002, developers said they expected as many as 5 million fans to visit each year. The news got worldwide attention; on his "Late Show," David Letterman offered a list of "top 10 features of the new Elvis theme resort," highlights of which included "Mirrors that make you look bloated and sweaty" and "Complimentary sideburns on your pillow."

The lofty plans fell through in December 2002, but Elvis fans were offered a sliver of hope in July 2004 when developer J.D. Stacy said he was working to resurrect the project. Will it happen? No one seems certain. Several other proposed developments for the land over the years--from a zoo to an RV park--never got off the ground, but maybe this time will be the charm.

With or without a commercialized tourist attraction, music lovers will probably always seek out Walls, but not just because of the Elvis connection--another pioneering musician also spent time in Walls. Lizzie "Kid" Douglas, better known as "Memphis Minnie," is considered one of the most influential female blues musicians of all time. Born in 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana, Douglas learned to play guitar as a child and continued to do so with great enthusiasm after her family moved to Walls, according to "A Prairie Home Companion." As a young woman, she began singing and playing in Memphis and eventually moved all over the country writing songs and playing the blues. One of Minnie's first records, "Frisco Town," was released by Columbia Records in 1929. Her recording career lasted an astounding 40 years; some of her biggest hits included "Shake Shake Mattie," "Bumble Bee," and "Me and My Chauffeur Blues," which became her signature song. Like a good Mississippian, she also wrote frequently about food, with songs like "You Stole My Cake," "Good Biscuits," "Selling My Pork Chops," and "Keep on Eatin'."

"Memphis Minnie, a black working-class woman, called no man master, defied gender stereotypes, and exemplified a radically adventurous lifestyle that makes most careers of the '20s and '30s seem dull by comparison," wrote biographers Paul and Beth Garon in the book Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie Blues.

After her death in 1973, Minnie was buried in the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church's small cemetery, tucked among the miles of cotton fields just outside the city limits. Since she died nearly destitute, her grave was unmarked for many years. But in 1996, the Mount Zion Memorial Fund put in place a large headstone, with financial support from contemporary musicians including John Fogerty and Bonnie Raitt. Blues fans now often make pilgrimages to this out-of-the-way spot, leaving flowers and harmonicas and reading the words inscribed on the back of the stone, excerpted from Woman with Guitar: "The hundreds of sides Minnie recorded are the perfect material to teach us about the blues. For the blues are at once general and particular, speaking for millions but in a highly singular, individual voice. Listening to Minnie's songs, we hear her fantasies, her dreams, her desires, but we will hear them as if they were our own."

From the musical to the spiritual, another noteworthy presence in Walls is Sacred Heart Southern Missions (SHSM), headquartered on Highway 161. The ministry began in 1942 when Father John Flanagan, SCJ, first came to serve this area; four years later, SHSM was officially formed with the goal of serving the area's poor and educating its young people. To that end, Sacred Heart Grade School opened in Walls in 1947. The organization continued to open more schools and churches in poor rural areas of north Mississippi over the years, and in 1955, the Sacred Heart Auto League was formed to help raise funds for the ministry.

Today, SHSM oversees several Catholic church parishes in north Mississippi and a variety of social service programs including food pantries, thrift stores, low-income housing, adult literacy and job training, and transportation and hot meals for the elderly. The organization's fund-raising arm, the Sacred Heart League, is now focused on religious publishing and distribution and generates more than 26 million Bibles, New Testaments, pamphlets, pictures, and videos each year, according to the Direct Mail Association.

In 1996, a subsidiary of the League successfully ventured into a very different arena, producing a movie called "The Spitfire Grill" that told a "story of love and redemption set in a small New England town," according to the Priests of the Sacred Heart website. The film won the prestigious Audience Award at the Sundance Fihn Festival and was purchased for a record $10 million by Castle Rock Entertainment. With the proceeds from that sale, Sacred Heart was able to advance its ministries and construct a new Sacred Heart School in Southaven, while remaining a vital part of the Walls community.

With such a storied past, Walls has evolved into much more than just another map dot along the road to Memphis. So don't let the unwelcoming name fool you--the hospitable residents of this tiny town would be pleased to have you drop by for a visit.

IF YOU GO:

Marianne's Flower Patch is located at 5921 Goodman Rd. W.; phone [phone].

The Historic DeSoto County Museum is located at 111 E. Commerce St. in Hernando; phone [phone].

For more information on Sacred Heart Southern Missions and the Sacred Heart League, call 800/232-9079.