With all the new visitors to this site I thought it best to take the time to explain what the Saving Tara Project is (and what it is not) and how it connects to the area around Jonesboro and the other tours I provide. The Saving Tara project was started a little over a year ago with the stated purpose of cleaning up the site, inventorying and then reassembling the pieces into small displays so they could be viewed by the public. I planned on building brand and getting out the word that the Tara façade was still in existence with the hope that social media would be the cheapest and best vehicle. I also planned on writing a book on the first steps and provide tours as the pieces were reassembled. There was no plan (and none at this time) to rebuild Tara using the original pieces attached to new wooden walls. I did not purchase the Tara façade and it (and the front door now on temporary display at the Margaret Mitchell House) are still the exclusive property of the Talmadge family of Georgia. To date the Tara façade still rests in the dairy barn on the Talmadge property. There is still a lot of dirt in the building since it has few windows with glass and no electricity and thus no heat nor air. The pieces have been sorted and retagged for inventory by a faithful group of approximately 20 volunteers…who have worked on the project since the first days of cleaning. Many of the pieces have been reassembled and placed in “flats” (cradles) which allow the artifacts to stand upright for viewing (and photos). So far hundreds have taken the time to be a part of the limited number of tours and it is my hope that with the start of the New Year many of my friends in tourism will bring their tour buses to view Tara. And I do hope to welcome many more individuals who seek to “meet me at the gate”. The Saving Tara facebook page celebrated 750 friends on June 1st and today has over 20,000 and the story of the restoration has been shown to well over 1 million thru television, media outlets, and online sources all over the world. All of this has been done thru my partnership with the late Gene Talmadge and his son Herman Talmadge III and family. There are no nonprofits, no corporate sponsors and no “quick start” programs as I am funding the restoration out of my own pocket… supplemented with the revenue from the Tara façade Tours and the sale of the Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project. Numerous attempts were made to display the Tara façade by nonprofits and corporations from 1959 til today and they all failed,…the success that we have seen is the product of a few loyal folks following a dreamer (me) with a few nickels in his pocket and a story to tell… The plan is to continue to reclaim the pieces of this gem of movie history, to continue to set up the displays, continue to sort thru the remaining pieces and to continue to welcome visitors from all over the world. There are many more stories to tell about Tara’s sojourn from Hollywood to Georgia and so this year I will begin shooting “shorts” to tell more of the story on youtube and facebook and begin putting together the team to shoot a documentary. But there is even more to see in the barn as the Fitzgerald House (Margaret Mitchell’s family home and her Tara) is also stored on the property. It would be great to also see portions of the Fitzgerald House reassembled so comparison can be made between the small rustic home of Margaret Mitchell’s Tara, with Hollywood’s version filmed a few years later. I have much more to say lots of suggestions for those seeking to tour the sites that filled the pages of a “little book” that set the world on fire, but my fingers are tired and you have learned more than you cared to before breakfast. Until next time, I look forward to meeting you all up at the gate. Peter
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:39:42 +0000
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