Three Museums and A Cemetary

I feel like I've conquered the whole city of Atlanta today; we have seen that much! It has been an exhausting, yet fulfilling day with a visit to three museums and a cemetary. Here's the details:

Margaret Mitchell House
Our first stop was the Margaret Mitchell Museum and House. You know, the crazy woman who wrote the "Greatest American Novel" Gone With the Wind, better known to her fans as GWTW. Born in 1900, Margaret, better known as Peggy lived during the glorious twenties. It is said that her novel paralleled the Great Depression in the rise and fall of Southern gentry. When she was fourteen Peggy said, "I want to be famous in some way - a speaker, artist, writer, soldier, fighter, stateswoman, or anything nearly."

She got her wish in 1936, when after a long journey and a lot of hard work her first and only book was published, a smashing success. Peggy began writing after she was crippled in bed with arthritis and a broken ankle that refused to heal. Her husband, John Marsh could find no other books on the Civil War, published or not, and in desparation suggested that his wife begin her own account of life during the Reconstruction. John and Peggy worked on her novel for around ten years before it was given to an editor who set up a contract immediately. Many speculate that Gone With the Wind is a nonfiction account of Peggy's life despite the many details and the denial by Peggy, who always said it was purely fiction.

Not long after the book was published, it was picked up by a film director David O. Selznick with a vision to make it the most popular film of all time. Putting together the perfect cast with Vivian Leigh, Clark Gabel, Evelyn Keyes, and Barbara O'Neil, the movie that premiered in Atlanta was a hit, making it the biggest movie to premiere ever.

Walking through the streets of Atlanta, I forget that the characters from Margaret Mitchells famous novel are fictional, because in the heart of the city they come alive. Scarlet, Rhett, Melanie, and Ashley live in the hearts of Americans as a reminder of what was and is to come. It is said that Scarlet's story is the same as Atlanta's: the rise and fall and remembering the glory days.

"As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." -Katie Scarlet O'Hara

Margaret Mitchell died in 1949, when she was hit by a cab driver on her way to the theatre. She was buried on her family plot in Oakland Cemetary beside her loving husband, her tombstone ever a reminder of the brave woman who took on the "Greatest American Novel" Gone With the Wind.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
"Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you're nobody, Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance." These are the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr. as he spoke to thousands of African Americans about freedom and justice. Suffering was not an option, violence was not an option, but determination and boycotting was. This was how Martin Luther fought, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

The Martin Luther memorial is incredible. An entire fountain surrounds his cement encased casket. Words of live written on his tombstone buried beside his loving and supportive wife.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" -Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil War Cyclorama
Have you ever heard of the word "cyclorama" before? Neither had I. It was incredible. Oil painted over a hundred years ago, this diagram of the Battle of Atlanta is as big as a football field. We were completely surrounded by the painting, sitting in rotating seats to see the entire thing. I can't even describe it, but if you come to Atlanta, you have to go there.

Oakland Cemetary
As we walked into the Oakland Cemetary I came across a pure white flower. Beautiful. Perfect. I picked it up and twirled it in my hand as we walked around the tombstones, some dating back to the 1850s. Worn writing etched into the stones of loved ones long forgotten. For a cemetary, it's a magical place of history and fortune.

As we walked along, making up stories for the old Civil War veterans we came across the Mitchell Family Plot. Buried with her parents and her husband, her tombstone reads "author of the famous novel 'Gone With the Wind.'" Coins and rocks had been placed upon her burial place in rememberance and honor of the woman who remembered the "old south." As I stood above her tombstone, I bent down and placed the wilting flower on her grave, the least I could do for a woman who so inspired me as a feminist, reporter, and most importantly, a novelist.