Mariam Webster defines the word “ghost” in a number of ways,….a spirit, an apparition and a phantom, to name a few. And everyone one of those definitions can be found at the Tara façade. When I first walked among the pieces of the Tara façade almost two years ago there appeared to be nothing there but random piles of wood amidst assorted lawn furniture … [Read more...]

  With all the wind and rain coming across the eastern part of the country I have had more than a few folks ask about the Tara façade and whether it was encased in some kind of special “architectural raincoat” to keep it safe and dry in that old barn. But the truth of the matter is that the Tara façade is still standing in the same old dairy barn … [Read more...]

In 1936, when Margaret Mitchell was asked where the stories in Gone with the Wind originated she answered, “practically all of the incidences in GWTW were true”. Later she would say that the “little maid Prissy was a real person”. In other letters she would relate hearing the stories “on grandpa’s front porch” and “on the fat slippery laps” of her great … [Read more...]

When Desi Arnaz gave the OK for Tara to be dismantled and shipped to its new home in Atlanta, Georgia in 1959, the pieces that made the trip were the doors, windows, side porches and even the ceiling from Tara’s from porch. The “brick walls” of Tara were made with 2x4’s covered in plywood that was covered in clay tile made to look like brick and because of … [Read more...]

With fall approaching and Halloween only a few weeks away, folks are once again asking if I have found any ghosts among the pieces of the Tara façade; and my answer is always the same, “the ghosts are everywhere”. But not the ectoplasmic disembodied forces that say, “boo”….but the markings of the carpenters and creators of Tara,….the imprints of their work … [Read more...]