Born Virginia Patterson Hensley · Winchester, Virginia · 8 September 1932
Patsy Cline
Her first record deal paid her about two pennies in every hundred of her royalties. People still drive out to Winchester and leave her pennies.
Winchester
Nashville
New York
Los Angeles
Kansas City
Camden
Winchester, Virginia · 1948 to 1957
Nineteen moves. Then South Kent Street.
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A family on the move: farms, quarries, factories and a shipyard took her father from job to job.
The Patsy Cline Historic House, 608 South Kent Street, July 2022. Mlsmith1962 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Patsy Cline Historic House · 608 South Kent Street, Winchester
Her family moved nineteen times before settling in Winchester in 1948, in this rented house near the railway tracks.
Her parents soon separated. Her mother, Hilda, took in sewing, and the family shared the house with two other families to keep costs down.
She lived here from 16 to 21, and came back on and off until her singing career began in 1957.
A museum run by Celebrating Patsy Cline: ring 540-662-5555 for hours and tickets. Park on the street, not on the house’s side; there are no toilets, so use the visitor centre under a mile away.
Ledger notes
Celebrating Patsy Cline
The Patsy Cline Historic House
608 South Kent Street, Winchester · Hours and tickets · 540-662-5555
The rented house on South Kent Street she later helped her mother buy, restored to the years 1948 to 1957. Street parking only.
South Loudoun Street, a block from the Gerrard Street corner, February 2022. APK · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gaunt’s Drug Store corner · South Loudoun Street at Gerrard Street, Winchester
After short spells at a poultry plant and the Greyhound bus station, she took a job as a waitress at Gaunt’s drug store.
The driving tour puts Gaunt’s on the corner of South Loudoun and Gerrard Streets, where as a teenager she worked the soda fountain making chocolate uniques and other soda treats.
Steady work with Bill Peer’s band later let her give up the job.
The city’s Patsy Cline driving tour stops at this corner. What the building is today is not checked here: look from the pavement. The photograph is the next block of South Loudoun Street.
Ledger notesWINC’s building at 520 North Pleasant Valley Road, May 2021. APK · CC BY-SA 4.0
WINC · 520 North Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester
She sang on WINC’s hillbilly music hour with the singer and disc jockey Joltin’ Jim McCoy.
The driving tour stops in front of the WINC studio here as the place she first sang on the radio.
The Country Music Hall of Fame says she sang in local juke joints as well as on WINC.
A working radio station, not open to visitors. The driving tour stops out front.
Ledger notesSouth Kent Street, Winchester, February 2022: the museum at 608 and its neighbours. APK · CC BY-SA 4.0
720 South Kent Street · South Kent Street, Winchester
In the summer of 1957 her mother moved into a bigger house down the street, at 720.
She married Charlie Dick there in September 1957.
He worked at the Winchester Star, the town’s daily paper, when they met.
A private house further down the street: named here, never mapped. The photograph is South Kent Street, with the museum at 608.
Ledger notes
The Ryman from its stage, looking up to the balcony: a Historic American Buildings Survey photograph. Historic American Buildings Survey · Public domain
Nashville · 1949 · she is sixteen
Too young for the Opry. Roy Acuff offers her his radio show tomorrow.
In 1949, after she sang with the gospel singer Wally Fowler at Winchester’s Palace Theater, he arranged an audition for her with WSM’s Opry, then broadcast from the Ryman.
Her mother is with her. What do they do?
Ledger notes
Ryman Auditorium
Ryman Auditorium tour
Nashville · Daily 9am–4pm · self-guided $25 + tax
Walk the Opry’s home of 1943 to 1974. The Opry 100 exhibit includes memorabilia of hers.
Under her first contract she could record only songs from Four Star’s own catalogue, so its owner collected the publishing royalties too.
Ledger notes
34 Music Square East, Nashville · 1961
Sent home in pain. Back for one take.
on crutches
On 21 August 1961, two months after a car accident, she came here on crutches to record Willie Nelson’s Crazy. There was no sheet music, so most of the four-hour session went on working out the arrangement with the Jordanaires and Floyd Cramer; she was in too much pain to reach the notes, and Bradley sent her home to rest.
Ledger notes
Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut console, shown at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Cliff · CC BY 2.0
The Quonset Hut · 34 Music Square East, Nashville
Owen and Harold Bradley bought a house here in 1954, made it a studio and fixed a military-surplus Quonset hut to the back. Columbia bought the studio in 1962. Recording stopped in 1982, and Mike Curb bought the building in 2014 for Belmont’s classes.
Now a teaching studio for Belmont University: see it from Music Square East. The photograph is its old console, shown at the Hall of Fame in 2007.
Ledger notesA Decca advertisement for Crazy in Cash Box, 7 October 1961. Decca Records · Public domain
New York and Los Angeles · after the hits
Carnegie Hall. The Hollywood Bowl.
Carnegie Hall, Seventh Avenue, August 2021. Kidfly182 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Carnegie Hall · Seventh Avenue at West 57th Street, Manhattan
On 29 November 1961 she made her first and only Carnegie Hall appearance, one of more than a dozen acts in a Grand Ole Opry benefit for the Musicians Aid Society.
The Opry troupe included Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, the Jordanaires, Bill Monroe, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins and Faron Young.
A working concert hall: see a concert, or check carnegiehall.org for tours.
The Hollywood Bowl · 2301 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood
Besides the Opry, she played Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl and the Mint Casino in Las Vegas, and sang on American Bandstand.
She also toured with Johnny Cash.
An open-air amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills: see the Bowl’s own site for what is on.
Ledger notes
March 1963
The last show, and the road home.
Memorial Hall, 600 North 7th Street, Kansas City, Kansas, September 2013. Nja1985 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Memorial Hall, Kansas City · 3 March 1963
On 3 March 1963 she headlined a benefit here for the family of a radio disc jockey. It was her last public performance. Bad weather held up her flight home to Nashville.
Still used for gatherings, sport and celebrations, and home to the Kansas City Roller Warriors: check what is on.
Ledger notesThe memorial stone off Mount Carmel Road, near Camden, 2010. Thomas R Machnitzki · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Camden memorial · 5 March 1963
On 5 March 1963 the small plane taking her home, flown by her manager Randy Hughes with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins aboard, came down near Camden in worsening weather. All four died.
A stone with an inscription marks the place, reached by a winding gravel path down a hill.
A memorial stone at the foot of a gravel path off Mount Carmel Road. Free and open; no parking, gate or facilities. The turning is easy to miss.
Ledger notes
1270 Front Royal Pike, Winchester · 10 March 1963
Home to Winchester. Bring a penny.
Her grave at Shenandoah Memorial Park, with pennies left by visitors, 2011. Saltydogg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Visitors are asked to bring a penny to leave, as many have done for years.
Shenandoah Memorial Park · 1270 Front Royal Pike (US 522), Winchester
She was buried here on 10 March 1963, and thousands of mourners came.
A bell tower stands here in her memory.
A cemetery on the Patsy Cline Memorial Highway, south of the city. The driving tour ends here: bring a penny.
Ledger notes
Her Hall of Fame plaque, elected 1973, photographed in 2011. arianravan · CC BY 2.0
1973
She was elected in 1973, the first solo female artist chosen for the Hall of Fame. It calls Crazy the biggest jukebox hit of all time.
Ledger notes
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Nashville · Open daily 9am–5pm
Home of her Hall of Fame plaque: she was the first solo female artist elected, in 1973.
11 places you can visit, in Winchester, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Kansas City and the Tennessee woods. 720 South Kent Street is a private house, so it is named but not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A museum run by Celebrating Patsy Cline: ring 540-662-5555 for hours and tickets. Park on the street, not on the house’s side; there are no toilets, so use the visitor centre under a mile away.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The city’s Patsy Cline driving tour stops at this corner. What the building is today is not checked here: look from the pavement. The photograph is the next block of South Loudoun Street.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working radio station, not open to visitors. The driving tour stops out front.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A cemetery on the Patsy Cline Memorial Highway, south of the city. The driving tour ends here: bring a penny.
1The Patsy Cline Historic House, 608 South Kent Street, July 2022. Mlsmith1962 · CC BY-SA 4.0
608 South Kent Street, Winchester
The Patsy Cline Historic House
She was born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester on 8 September 1932.
A museum run by Celebrating Patsy Cline: ring 540-662-5555 for hours and tickets. Park on the street, not on the house’s side; there are no toilets, so use the visitor centre under a mile away.
Ledger notes
2South Loudoun Street, a block from the Gerrard Street corner, February 2022. APK · CC BY-SA 4.0
South Loudoun Street at Gerrard Street, Winchester
Gaunt’s Drug Store corner
After short spells at a poultry plant and the Greyhound bus station, she took a job as a waitress at Gaunt’s drug store.
The city’s Patsy Cline driving tour stops at this corner. What the building is today is not checked here: look from the pavement. The photograph is the next block of South Loudoun Street.
Ledger notes
3WINC’s building at 520 North Pleasant Valley Road, May 2021. APK · CC BY-SA 4.0
520 North Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester
WINC
She sang on WINC’s hillbilly music hour with the singer and disc jockey Joltin’ Jim McCoy.
A working radio station, not open to visitors. The driving tour stops out front.
Ledger notes
4Her grave at Shenandoah Memorial Park, with pennies left by visitors, 2011. Saltydogg · CC BY-SA 3.0
1270 Front Royal Pike (US 522), Winchester
Shenandoah Memorial Park
She was buried here on 10 March 1963, and thousands of mourners came.
A cemetery on the Patsy Cline Memorial Highway, south of the city. The driving tour ends here: bring a penny.
Ledger notes
Stay
Sleep near the Ryman.
A hotel in Nashville’s old railway station, close to the Ryman, the Hall of Fame and Music Row.
Union Station Hotel
The Union Station Nashville Yards
1001 Broadway, Nashville
Nashville’s old railway terminal at 1001 Broadway, now a 125-room hotel with live music in the Bar Car. Not a Patsy Cline address; a base for the Ryman, the Hall of Fame and Music Row. Pictured: the Ryman.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The ledger notes
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 17 of 17 Moments
The Patsy Cline Historic House
608 South Kent Street, Winchester
The nineteenth move
After nineteen moves the family settles in Winchester, in a rented house on South Kent Street.
Two in a hundred
She signs with Four Star Records: about two percent of the royalties, and only songs from its own catalogue.
Walkin’ After Midnight
She wins Arthur Godfrey’s talent show with Walkin’ After Midnight; it reaches number 2 country and number 12 pop, and the money that follows helps buy the house.
Gaunt’s Drug Store corner
South Loudoun Street at Gerrard Street, Winchester
The soda fountain
At sixteen she waits tables at Gaunt’s and works its soda fountain.
WINC
520 North Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester
The hillbilly hour
She sings on WINC’s hillbilly music hour with Joltin’ Jim McCoy.
720 South Kent Street
South Kent Street, Winchester
Married on Kent Street
She marries Charlie Dick at her mother’s new house, 720 South Kent Street.
Shenandoah Memorial Park
1270 Front Royal Pike (US 522), Winchester
Home to Winchester
She is buried at Shenandoah Memorial Park; thousands come.
The Ryman Auditorium
116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, Nashville
Too young for the Opry
Turned away from the Opry for being under 18, and too short of money to stay for Roy Acuff’s show.
An Opry member
The Grand Ole Opry makes her a member.
The Quonset Hut
34 Music Square East, Nashville
Crazy, in one take
Sent home from the first session to rest, she comes back and sings Crazy in a single take.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
222 Rep. John Lewis Way South, Nashville
The contract runs out
Her Four Star contract ends; she signs straight to Decca, keeps Owen Bradley and gains a far larger catalogue of songs.
I Fall to Pieces
Recorded at her first Decca session, it reaches number 1 country and number 12 pop.
The Hall of Fame
She becomes the first solo female artist elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Carnegie Hall
Seventh Avenue at West 57th Street, Manhattan
Carnegie Hall
Her only Carnegie Hall appearance, with an Opry troupe of more than a dozen acts.
The Hollywood Bowl
2301 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood
The Hollywood Bowl
One of the big stages she played after her hits.
Memorial Hall, Kansas City
600 North 7th Street, Kansas City, Kansas
The last show
She headlines a benefit at Memorial Hall, her last public performance.
The Camden memorial
Mount Carmel Road, near Camden, Tennessee
Near Camden
The plane taking her home comes down near Camden in bad weather; all four aboard die.
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