Save Tara
Donation protected
Arguably the most recognized movie house of all time,.. Tara from Gone With the Wind has been languishing in a tractor shed and a dairy barn since it was dismantled in Hollywood and shipped to Georgia in 1960. But now we have an opportunity to display the original doors, windows and side porches and bricks of Tara and tell its amazing story from Hollywood royalty to lost icon.
For the last three years I have been tasked with preserving and presenting the Tara facade and have created a website (savingtara.com) and Facebook that has over 25,000 regular visitors, a book (The Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project) and documented and inventoried the windows, doors and side porches as I set them up for tours.
Tara's current space is no more than 2,000 square feet but we have a larger (6,000 square feet) space nearby that will allow us to leave the dairy barn with broken windows and provide the space needed for better display and room for group tours.
The money raised will go to clear brush and build fencing around the building, to rent equipment to clean the inside of the larger structure and for lighting and a bathroom. All of the work is done by volunteers and I receive no salary for my curating of the display. What money I make comes from my tours and the corporate events we hope to host.
Margaret Mitchell donated millions to the Morehouse School of Medicine in her lifetime and her estate continues that gift. Gone with the Wind has brought billions in tourism dollars to Georgia and the surrounding states and I believe this will be one more tourism opportunity. Years ago I documented the true stories in GWTW and my "little tour" has generated to date over 5 million tourism dollars for the state so we know that the book that is still number two behind the Bible and the movie that is still number one at the box office (in today’s dollars) still has quite a following.
This project will continue to give back financially but also tell the historical stories behind the book and movie, the story of the first African American woman to win an Academy Award and provide a teaching tool as we study the movie set built in Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The work is being done on private property with no special grants, status or allotments. When I created my tours and wrote my books I did it because I felt there was a market. I believe that the Tara facade has a market and can and should be self-sustaining, so the donations given will be a helping hand to get an 80+ year old movie star (Tara) on her feet so she can welcome visitors all over the world that seek to view her countenance.
The funds are needed as soon as possible so that during this time between the brutally hot Georgia summer and the winter rains the Tara facade can be moved across the property and set up.
Over the years estimates for a Tara museum ran into the millions but what we have accomplished so far has been done with only a few thousand dollars and lots of "sweat equity". Please help us get Tara into this bigger space so I can set up the larger pieces such as the side porch where Mellie sat with the soldiers (yes we have it) and the large front windows where Scarelett entertained the Tarleton Twins in the movies first scenes. I promise you, your donation will be well spent.
I look forward to meeting you all up the gate.
Peter Bonner
For the last three years I have been tasked with preserving and presenting the Tara facade and have created a website (savingtara.com) and Facebook that has over 25,000 regular visitors, a book (The Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project) and documented and inventoried the windows, doors and side porches as I set them up for tours.
Tara's current space is no more than 2,000 square feet but we have a larger (6,000 square feet) space nearby that will allow us to leave the dairy barn with broken windows and provide the space needed for better display and room for group tours.
The money raised will go to clear brush and build fencing around the building, to rent equipment to clean the inside of the larger structure and for lighting and a bathroom. All of the work is done by volunteers and I receive no salary for my curating of the display. What money I make comes from my tours and the corporate events we hope to host.
Margaret Mitchell donated millions to the Morehouse School of Medicine in her lifetime and her estate continues that gift. Gone with the Wind has brought billions in tourism dollars to Georgia and the surrounding states and I believe this will be one more tourism opportunity. Years ago I documented the true stories in GWTW and my "little tour" has generated to date over 5 million tourism dollars for the state so we know that the book that is still number two behind the Bible and the movie that is still number one at the box office (in today’s dollars) still has quite a following.
This project will continue to give back financially but also tell the historical stories behind the book and movie, the story of the first African American woman to win an Academy Award and provide a teaching tool as we study the movie set built in Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The work is being done on private property with no special grants, status or allotments. When I created my tours and wrote my books I did it because I felt there was a market. I believe that the Tara facade has a market and can and should be self-sustaining, so the donations given will be a helping hand to get an 80+ year old movie star (Tara) on her feet so she can welcome visitors all over the world that seek to view her countenance.
The funds are needed as soon as possible so that during this time between the brutally hot Georgia summer and the winter rains the Tara facade can be moved across the property and set up.
Over the years estimates for a Tara museum ran into the millions but what we have accomplished so far has been done with only a few thousand dollars and lots of "sweat equity". Please help us get Tara into this bigger space so I can set up the larger pieces such as the side porch where Mellie sat with the soldiers (yes we have it) and the large front windows where Scarelett entertained the Tarleton Twins in the movies first scenes. I promise you, your donation will be well spent.
I look forward to meeting you all up the gate.
Peter Bonner
Organizer
Peter Bonner
Organizer
Hampton, GA
