peach tree street & gone with the wind

peach on peach tree street

pedestrian hostile atlanta
resting in front of church doors

urban art in front of a bank building

same bank tower, more art: the statue was huge

bars and stripes in a shop window

clark gable, vivian leigh, and most of the gone with the wind crew stayed here when the movie premiered in december 1939

margaret "peggy" mitchell house and museum are a "shrine" to gone with the wind says lonely planet usa. i think it's an enriching must for fans of the classic story. tickets are $9 for students which sort of paid off for us since we were the only visitors and got a personalized tour.

mitchell lived with her husband in this house part of her life until she died in a car accident on the way to a play. no pictures are allowed inside the building which contains several apartments. mitchell's features a small living room, an even smaller bed room with a dining table, and a tiny kitchen. the guide told us that mitchell never wanted to have a house because then guests would come and stay. she didn't even have another bed let alone a guest room in her apartment out of fear for visitors.

the museum is dedicated to the making of the movie

here she is, plucking away. the guide said mitchell started writing the book because she was at home with a leg condition and to entertain herself during recovery the piles of books her husband brought home from the public library were not enough and she began composing an own story. she said: "in a weak moment i have written a book."

our guide says originally she denied to friends that she's writing a book. but at a convention a friend pointed her out to a publisher who sought her to ask about the book. she denied again. a person overhearing the conversation started laughing at the thought that mitchell who had worked as a reporter before covering society events was writing a book. it made her so mad that upon returning home she put the manuscript in an envelope and sent it to the publisher's hotel.

similar to the beginning in gone with the wind, margaret mitchell married one guy to spite another one, tells us the guide. she also made these two guys room together so that she had a better chance to date both of them before matrimony. she married the bad guy first to motivate the good guy to intervene and stop the marriage from happening and propose to her. unfortunately he didn't hurdle himself in front of the altar but waited until her first marriage failed and married her afterwards.