Atlanta March 20

March 20

We had three places to visit on our list today and each one ended up being really interesting. We headed to the north end of Atlanta to tour Margaret Mitchell’s apartment where she was living when she wrote “Gone With the Wind.” Interesting to think of Rawlings writing the “Yearling” and Margaret Mitchell writing “ Gone With the Wind” in the same time period, both getting due acclaim and then the two becoming friends through their writing. Even as a child, she always loved writing. They even have a little book on display that she made when she was eleven. She was not interested in school and left Smith College after one year. Her mother had passed away and her father thought she should move home to run the household. Margaret wasn’t interested in that either. She ended up with a job as a reporter, not common in the 30’s, married, divorced and married again and living in the small apartment we visited that she called “The Dump.” Both she and Rawlings came from families with money. We heard that Margaret’s father came to the Dump for a visit and sent a housekeeper right away. She had an accident affecting her ankles making it hard for her to walk and couldn’t get out to do her reporting. She was becoming very depressed, but with her husbands encouragement and the purchase of a typewriter, she began writing what became “Gone With the Wind.” She wrote the last chapter first and then went forward putting chapters in manila envelopes as she went. She used a stack of these envelopes to hold up a broken table leg. I guess the envelopes were everywhere. She was on the shy side and didn’t want criticism so it was years before she would finally submit it. The publishers were leery about publishing a 1,000 page book at the high price of $3.00 and still in the depression but of course it was an instant success. She sold the movie rights to David Selznick but wasn’t interested in writing the screen play. Her life came to an early end at 49 when she was hit by a car as she was crossing the street. Once again, our guide was fabulous and had so many stories to tell. It was obvious that she was fascinated with Margaret and certainly passed her enthusiasm on to us. She did a great job pointing our how her life experiences influenced her writing. On the same property is a museum showing a film on the making of the movie, “Gone With the Wind.“ Selznick wanted to see how his three hour movie was going to go over without the press. He previewed in Riverside away from Hollywood. People came to see a movie and at the end a speaker cam out and told them they were going to show a three hour movie premier and if they wanted to leave they should so so now as the doors would be locked once the movie started. It showed to a full house with rave reviews. We saw Margaret Mitchell speaking in a news reel.

Margaret Mitchel's apartment where she wrote "Gone With the Wind."

Desk she used when she was a reporter.
They had to cut the desk down because she was only 4'10.''

Doors to the plantation that they used in the movie set.

Driving to the east side of Atlanta, we toured the Wren’s Nest with Nanny, our black 82 year old tour guide. This slight little woman with sparkling eyes kept us enthralled as she shared stories about Mr. Harris, his family and his writing. She shared a bit of her life as well. The Wren’s Nest was the home of Joel Chandler Harris and his children from 1881 until his death in 1908. He wrote the “Uncle Remus Stories” on the front porch. I always loved the stories as a child and I think “Song of the South” was my first movie. Nanny was absolutely enthralled with Harris and his family along with the stories. She started out 15 years ago cleaning the home and is now a guide but won’t give up her cleaning job. She loves being able to touch and care for the household items. Harris was born out of wedlock and his was mother forced to move away from everything she knew when he was born. This little red headed boy spent all of his free time growing up hanging out with the slaves where his mother was working. He loved the stories he heard in the slave dialect and wanted to share them as an adult. Thanks to him the folklore stories were saved using the dialect when he did his writing about Brer Rabbit. They created a bit of controversy. A quote in a publication says, “A century ago, Joel Chandler Harris almost single handedly blew life into public consciousness about black American folklore. Both reviled and revered, Harris’s legacy lives on.

The Harris Home in the 1800's
The azaleas and flowering trees are beautiful right now.

Nanny taking us through the harris home.

Last on the list was the Cyclorama. It is a 360 degree painting that is 358 feet wide, 42 feet tall and weighs 9,334 pounds. The theater seats rotate on a platform while the viewer is taken through the battle of Atlanta during the Civil War. The thirty foot span between the painting and the platform is filled with a 3D scene with roads, railroad crossings, trees and 128 soldiers. The foreground runs right into the painting. The narrator describes July 22, 1864 as Sherman is taking Atlanta. It really is pretty spectacular. It was painted in 1865-66 by German artists. The diorama was added in 1936 with the CCC program. Norm and Christy saw it on their trip in 1993 and Norm remembered it as a hokey attraction not worth seeing again. Chris on the other hand thought he was thinking of something else and it was pretty cool. We decided to go ahead and see it while Norm took a nap in the car. We were all happy. Chris and I enjoyed the Cyclorama and Norm enjoyed a nap. That’s what we want; happy campers.