I visited America’s ‘most MAGA’ resort – here’s what happened

When Imhotep built the first pyramid in Saqqara almost 5,000 years ago, little did the Egyptian architect know that his thunder would one day be stolen by a 98m edifice in Tennessee.

Towering over the Memphis skyline – home to Elvis Presley’s Graceland, birthplace of the blues and the beating heart of the US civil rights movement – is the Bass Pro Pyramid; a shiny, sprawling one-time entertainment and sports venue transformed into a shopping mecca for fishing and firearms enthusiasts, complete with a family of resident alligators.

Guns? They have them. Branded caps, ginormous tubs of Donald Trump tan-hued cheese puffs and camping supplies ranging from tents to $500 (£385) beer coolers? Grab yourself a trolley.

It was into this shrine to good ‘ol American capitalism – the air a cacophony of buzzing insects and whooshing artificial waterfalls, with a “duck hunting” museum found next to a rifle shop – that I stepped a few weeks back. But I wasn’t left to snuggle up for the night under piles of flannel shirts and raincoats on the shop floor. The pyramid also houses Big Cypress Lodge, a five-star wilderness-themed resort that has been declared America’s “most Maga hotel” by locals.

The rooms are straight out of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden: mahogany wooden beams criss-cross over the ceiling, taxidermied animals – majestic stags’ heads, growling grizzlies – peek out from every wall and dark corner, and rustic balconies overlook the neon signs and water features of the shop floor below. Designed to look and feel like a woodland retreat, some of the wider activities on offer include a rooftop campfire complete with s’mores kits, a nautical-themed bowling alley complete with terrifying sharks’ heads and a shooting range (your own firearm required).

Guests also receive free access to the Sky High Ride – North America’s tallest free standing elevator, at 300ft tall. Its base is surrounded by water housing real-life alligators and it leads to high-class restaurant The Lookout (expect a menu teeming with Southern favourites like shrimp and grits and juicy steak) and an observation deck that offers sweeping views of the Mississippi River.

A gentle warning: if, like me, you’re one of those people whose legs turn to jelly at the very sight of a high building, then pack your blindfold and earplugs. There’s something uniquely humiliating about trying not to cry (or vomit) while being stuck in a lift, soaring towards the sky, that’s packed full of cheering, nonplussed kids.

Almost immediately after arriving in Memphis, still sweating in the sticky Tennessee heat after a week spent acclimatising in Nashville, my boyfriend and I watched a woman being escorted from the Bass Pro store by armed police officers; walking in, slightly dazed and visually overstimulated by the massive structure, all the wood and neon signs – not to mention the ominous sight of handguns peeking out of other guests’ pockets (I am British, after all) – we were met with not one but three Trump T-shirt-wearing patrons.

My personal favourite had to be the greying man in a wheelchair whose front was proudly emblazoned with Trump’s raised fist and the slogan: “Impeached. Arrested. Convicted. Shot. Still Standing”. It’s hard to imagine wandering into a London hotel and seeing anyone wearing Keir Starmer merchandise, but then I guess being caught in a furore over Taylor Swift freebies doesn’t really hold the same weight in martyrdom as a triple-helping of assassination attempts.

It wasn’t difficult to find Trump-loving guests elsewhere in the hotel or on-site attractions, either. While simultaneously sipping and wincing my way through a lethal whisky cocktail in the bar, I got chatting with a Californian businessman who, he said, had ended a lifetime of supporting the Democrats in favour of flying the flag for Trump in 2024. When asked why, he had a ready prepared deluge of grievances: inflation, rising taxes, wokeism gone mad.

Our conversation quickly caught the attention of another man, who, while getting steadily more drunk on what looked to be a never ending supply of G&Ts, said he was breaking with his home state of New Jersey’s political loyalties (it has been a Democratic stronghold since 1992) to vote red next month. A lady from nearby Collierville told me that she and her family travel to Bass Pro at least once a month for fishing and hunting supplies, a freedom made possible by “good men like President Trump”.

All of the guests I met were friendly; many were slightly mad. But isn’t that exactly what you want from a far-flung trip abroad: a microcosm of a particular place and its people? And even if the gators and guns aren’t for you, a city as fabulously eccentric as this one has plenty else on offer.

A slice of urban idyll is found a short walk away on Harbor Town, a new neighbourhood built on a Mississippi sandbar “Mud Island”, where I tucked into delicious fried chicken and biscuits (at the hip brunch spot Kinfolk) and the best American-Italian food I’ve ever had (homemade pasta swimming in decadent vodka sauce; rich, savoury lasagne; vivid green peas tossed in glistening pork fat and a tart, ice-cold Hugo Spritz perfect to take the edge off the evening heat) at the romantic Cocozza.

Take advantage of a short complimentary shuttle ride to Beale Street and you can dance the night away in one of its historic blues, soul and rock’n’roll clubs (the world famous BB King’s is a must visit, along with Itta Bena, an upscale speakeasy and restaurant hidden away up the fire escape), or to the popular musical attractions of Graceland, Stax Records and Sun Studios.

For those looking for a different side to Memphis, away from hotels packed with gaggles of Elvis-obsessed tourists on pilgrimage to Graceland, Big Cypress Lodge is a hoot: unapologetically American and probably unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s the South dialled up to 101 per cent – it’s the great outdoors for those who, myself included, shudder at the thought of living somewhere without Uber. Just remember to leave your Harris and Walz 2024 hat at home.

Essentials

Big Cypress Lodge, Tennessee (001 800-223-3333) has doubles from £230 per night. British Airways has flights from London to Memphis, via various cities in the US, from £800. Poppie Platt was a guest of Memphis Tourism.