Yesterday I received an email reminding me that the Saving Tara site was created two years ago. I was really surprised since I seem to go from feeling like I just started work on the Saving Tara Project yesterday,…to feeling as though I’ve been at it for 20 years. But …I am happy to say that the project continues and there are folks all over the world that continue to read the stories and updates and purchase the Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project to help fund the work. We will have more tours and more information and….God willing… a better building in which to welcome our guests.
Just the other day I was confirming my information regarding the Confederate Army that camped on the Crawford Talmadge Plantation where the Tara façade and Fitzgerald House are stored and the information is correct. General Hood (as previously reported) DID sit on the front porch of the big white house and converse with his generals after the fall of Jonesboro and Atlanta. AND the ladies of the Crawford Plantation DID take down their draperies and make new dresses (as Scarlett did) at the start of 1865. AND there is more than one source that reports the death of a Yankee deserter who was then buried in the brush arbor after being shot by the ladies of the house (there is also a story at the Fitzgerald House and it has an original Yankee US buckle to go with the report!). So, the stories have not stopped “trickling in” and the more work that is done to preserve and present the Tara façade the more information comes to the fore.
Today I have posted a photo of the Crawford Talmadge Plantation House which stands today to welcome our guests who come to view the Tara façade and hear the stories. Do NOT forget that Margaret herself said that, “practically all of the incidences were true” and they she heard these tales from her family and friends who lived them during “the late unpleasantness” (as the old southern women referred to it) of 1861-1865. And don’t forget that past all the books, clothing, trinkets and figurines there is the Tara façade that still calls to those who will come home to Tara. All the programs and lectures in the world are secondary to viewing the foundation of the tale,….Tara…and I continue to make it available to all who seek her.
In honor of the second birthday of the Saving Tara site, the Official Guide to the Saving Tara will have a special thank you and birthday greeting as well as my signature for all who purchase the book through the month of October. I am making plans for a special tour of the Gone with the Wind sites in the story and end at the Tara façade. There will be more information to come soon!
Until then, I look forward to meeting you all, up at the gate.
Peter
You have just increased my knowledge of my own Southern heritage. I didn’t know there was the availability of a tour. I would love to see it. I just live ‘up the road’ from Tara.