Tara’s secrets that I got wrong!

This morning’s post is not an easy one. It is a look back at the first trip I made to the old dairy barn on the Talmadge property and the report I gave regarding the things I found in the barn….and the mistakes I made in my report. It would be so much easier to forget that which I have already posted and simply move on but that doesn’t correct the mistakes or update the research. So, for your viewing pleasure (and the mortification of yours truly), I have linked the youtube site here so you can take a look and see what I am talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdYRLck9kjw

*Of note, is the fact that at the point of this first video the volunteers had not yet begun the cleanup of the site and everything was covered in layers of dirt. None of the pieces had been sorted and arranged by their locations and so all around me were pieces of Tara in no particular order.

*The inventory tags on the items were created and attached to the pieces thru the work of Tom Jones (http://tomitronics.com/old_buildings/gwtwindex.html) and were not done in Hollywood at the time of its dismantle in 1959, but after the items arrived in Mrs. Talmadge’s barn in 1980.

*The Tara façade was NOT used in other movies filmed on the Selznick backlot, although there is still some debate as to whether it is seen, “in passing” on some later films. Although it is noted at a number of museums, Tara was NOT the Barkley’s house in the Big Valley (which was first filmed in 1965, six years AFTER Tara left Hollywood for Atlanta) nor was it seen in Bonanza (which did not begin filming until September 1959…Tara was dismantled in the Spring of 1959).

*No connection has been found between the Tara façade and the coach lamps seen toward the end of the video…but as I said, “that is where research comes in”.

But Tara still stands and its pieces are still available to see and as long as I can I will continue to tell the stories and share the information. Today you can purchase copies of the Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project from any bookseller (if you purchase from here you can receive a personalized copy) and see photos of the Tara façade as it was when I arrived and as it is as the work continues. You can read the stories of its past and the latest “finds” as Tara continues to yield her secrets. And you can gather a group of friends and come and take a tour with me to see for yourself that Tara still remains and that there is still magic in her green shutters and tall windows. To book a tour for your group simply contact me at peter@peterbonner.com.

I look forward to meeting you up at the gate.

Peter