Formerly known as the Crescent Apartments, the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum was home to the author while she wrote Gone with the Wind.
Mitchell lived in apartment #1 from 1925 until 1932. Like the burning of Atlanta Margaret Mitchell wrote about, her former home suffered through similar trials and tribulations.
In 1964 Ansley Mall (a popular hangout for Atlanta's gay community then and now) opened nearby, causing many of the stores on Peachtree Street between 8th and 14th Streets to go out of business. In 1977 the last tenants were evicted and the building was boarded up. It sat empty until a mysterious fire broke out in the southwest corner of the apartments in the late 1980s. In September 1994, another fire (presumed to be arson) destroyed much of the building.
Just in time for the 1996 Summer Olympics, the apartments were restored as a tourist attraction with the corporate help of Daimler-Chrysler. However, in May 1996, just 40 days before it was scheduled to open as the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, another arsonist struck. This time the building was gutted by the fire. Miraculously, apartment #1 where Mitchell resided suffered only minor damage. Reconstruction began, and like Atlanta, the building rose from the ashes. Although it had missed the Olympics' crowd, visitors began flocking to the museum in when it finally opened in 1997.
In 1999, the Margaret Mitchell House turned a former Bank South building nearby into the Gone with the Wind Museum. There visitors can view artifacts like the original front door entryway to the Hollywood movie set of Tara, photos taken during the movie's premiere in Atlanta, and the portrait of Scarlett O'Hara in her blue dress from Rhett Butler's bedroom (complete with wine stains from when Clark Gable threw wine at it in the movie). The Margaret Mitchell House & Museum is now owned and operated by the Atlanta History Center and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, 999 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA, 404–260–0821, Web Site
* Learn more in the new guidebook from OUT Magazine:
The Out Traveler: Atlanta now available at your local bookstore.
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