Historic Memphis Walking Tour: Cotton Row and Court Square

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/6

Duration2h–3h

GroupUp to 20

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Walk through the oldest downtown Memphis and watch the Peabody ducks march to the fountain

This 2-hour guided walking tour of Memphis explores the city's 19th-century heart, moving through Cotton Row and Court Square while a professional guide shares stories of yellow fever, Civil War battles, and Prohibition-era bootleggers. The tour includes the famous Peabody Hotel duck march and sweeping Mississippi River views. It's wheelchair accessible and suitable for all fitness levels, including families with strollers.

2h–3h

Step-by-step itinerary

Historic Memphis walking tour highlights

Learn about yellow fever history
Discover WDIA radio station history
Explore Memphis' oldest park
Visit Fourth Bluff Park battle site
Understand Mississippi River importance
See Cotton Exchange and Cotton Row
View oldest buildings in Downtown
Experience Peabody Hotel duck march

The Experience

The tour starts in downtown Memphis and moves through the blocks that shaped the city's past. You'll walk through Cotton Row, where the oldest collection of original buildings still stands—what was once called Howard's Row—and learn how the Cotton Exchange built the South's wealth. Court Square, one of Memphis's oldest and most beautiful parks, sits at the heart of this stretch, and the guide explains its role in the city's 19th-century life. The Mississippi River views open up as you move through the streets, and the guide covers the river's importance to Memphis itself.

The stories woven through the walk span yellow fever epidemics, the Battle of Memphis in 1862, and the bootleggers who moved through the city during Prohibition. WDIA, known as the "Goodwill Station," gets its place in the narrative too. The route stays leisurely—this is not a rushed sprint through dates and plaques—so there's room to absorb the details and ask questions as you go.

The tour ends at the Peabody Hotel, where you'll watch the famous duck march, a time-honored Memphis tradition where the ducks walk from their penthouse home down to the fountain in the lobby. A professional guide leads the whole 2-hour walk, and local taxes are included. Parking is nearby: the closest garage is two blocks away at 149 Peabody Place, or you can try metered on-street parking on Second Street or Beale.

What’s included

Professional guide in English.
local taxes.
access to the Peabody Hotel duck march and views of the Mississippi River.
walking routes through Cotton Row and Court Square with stories of yellow fever, Civil War battles, and Prohibition history.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Backbeat Tours

Is this one for you?You get a guided narrative of Memphis's past without arranging transportation or timing around a group schedule—the professional guide sets the pace and the route, so the history unfolds as you walk, and the whole tour fits into a morning or afternoon.