Miss Scarlett and Miss Margaret

Tour the home of ‘Gone With the Wind’ author

See Georgia through the eyes of its favorite daughter

{ ABOVE: ROAD TO TARA MUSEUM, jONESBORO }

Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, was born in Atlanta in 1900, 35 years after the end of the Civil War.

Like her most famous creation, Scarlett O’Hara, Mitchell was a Georgia girl to the core. Both ladies experienced a city in flux — Scarlett’s Atlanta was weathering the war, and Mitchell’s hometown was forging ahead.

Seeing Scarlett

Now, 150 years after the Battle of Atlanta and 75 years after the world premiere of the Gone With the Wind film, Scarlett remains a symbol of Atlanta.

Fans of the book and movie will find many places to follow in the author’s footsteps. They can step into the fictional world of Tara Plantation and see where the Civil War shaped history.

A walk through the Road to tara Museum in Jonesboro provides an overview from the Battle of Atlanta to when Gone With the Wind dazzled on the silver screen.

The Marietta Gone With the Wind Museum: Scarlett on the Square features a world-class collection of movie treasures. See an original honeymoon gown donned by Vivien Leigh in the film and other costume pieces, promotional items from the movie and Mitchell’s own copies of the novel.

Author’s home

The Margaret Mitchell House, a Tudor Revival building in downtown Atlanta, also draws the attention of Gone With the Wind fans. Operated by the Atlanta History Center, the three-story house was home to Mitchell and husband John Marsh beginning in 1925.

The Atlanta History Center also has a 33-acre campus in the Buckhead neighborhood; it houses one of the largest Civil War exhibits in the country.

More stops on Georgia’s Gone With the Wind trail are a must for fans. The Fulton County public Library headquarters — located at 1 Margaret Mitchell Square — features a permanent exhibit dedicated to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, across the street from a monument erected in her honor. The monument honors Mitchell’s memory with a waterfall and columned sculpture.

Gone, but not forgotten

Guided walking tours at Historic oakland Cemetery show where Mitchell was laid to rest, close to golf legend Bobby Jones and 3,000 Confederate soldiers.

Atlanta Movie tours brings film buffs to places throughout Mitchell’s Atlanta. The entire three-hour tour aboard a luxury motorcoach is led by a costumed interpreter portraying Mitchell. it is best described as a “Broadway show on wheels.”