By Jennifer Ciotta

Today in Atlanta the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum serves as a great welcome to the author herself and her award-winning Gone With The Wind.  The beautifully restored house complete with red exterior and a white painted porch, was the place where Mitchell wrote her treasured novel.  Features of the tour include Apartment #1, where Peggy lived when the house was split into a ten-unit apartment building.  The Round Robin Letters Display showcases the letters which the author wrote to family members from the time the novel was published to the movie premiere.  On the first floor is a photography exhibit of a fellow philanthropist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The Movie Museum contains the front door of the Tara Plantation from the original movie set and other memorabilia such as costumes, posters, dolls and games. 

The Center for Southern Literature is located here as well hosting a plethora of events.  For example, one program, The Six Degrees of Separation, encourages innovative thinking and discussion to solve world problems.  The Emerging Writers programs gives free publicity to emerging talent.  The Literary Salon brings together writer to discuss creative processes and popular works of today.  A tourist can simply call the center and pop in for a lecture or group.  A large upcoming event is the mother-daughter writing powerhouse of Mary and Carol Higgins Clark, who will be discussing their new books.

The historic Oakland Cemetery serves as the final resting place for Mitchell.  Golfer Bobby Jones, many famous African Americans and almost 7,000 Civil War soldier are laid to rest here.  In the historic African American section, visitors hold poetry readings year round.  The beautiful grounds have rose gardens, magnolias, oak trees and cherry laurelall reminiscent of the eighteenth century Victorian era.  A favorite of the cemetery is the twilight tours, varying from topic to topic, but with over 70,000 stories, a visitor will likely be entertained Southern-style.