Tara In
Texas
Jefferson, Texas
A
"Gone With The Wind"
Weekend Remembered
by Linda Hass
(This is a picture
story. Click each photo to see enlargements)
After a six hour drive from La
Grange, Texas, Danny and I arrive in the quaint little town of Jefferson, TX, in far east Texas, at 1
pm on Friday October 10, 2003 but it seemed more like 1860’s because
everywhere you looked you saw these beautifully restored homes with huge
magnolia trees and beautiful gardens. The
historical downtown had the general store and antique shops with a real civil
war soldier sitting in front of the store.
As we drove up to the Falling Leaves Bed &
Breakfast it was like coming home for the
weekend. The feelings of the 1860’s still held.
The Southern hospitality was felt. Lisa and Mike Barry welcomed us like
they were family coming for a visit. Our
room was called the Magnolia
room, which had a young girl’s name etched in the glass of a windowpane. Lisa, our host, told us that Eloisa
scratched her name there with her diamond ring right after she was married and
came to make this house her home where she live out her entire life. The Magnolia Tree out front of our
window was planted there the first year she lived there. We met 2 other guests at the house that
became our friends: Saundra from Cols, Georgia and Carleen from Bedford, TX.
Both were here for the Tara in Texas weekend.
Our first event was
to visit Scarlett O’Hardy’s Gone With The Wind Museum and 
gift shop where we checked in. Owners Randy 
and Bobbie Hardy have bee our long time
friends. We got our nametags
and souvenir bags just full of goodies including the program with the Tara in
Texas Emblem (like above) on the outside of all three. I planned to use
the program to collect autographs of all we met the whole weekend. The bag
will surely come in handy.
When we walked into the museum it was like seeing very precious old friend, one
that
had been a big part
of our lives from its creation in 1993 until 2002 when it came to live here in
this wonderful museum where it will be loved forever more. It was big and white and in the very
center of a room, full of very important historical memorabilia, about the
people that once lived in its rooms. Yes,
our Gone With The Wind Mansion Dollhouse found a new home and we know, now, it will be very
happy there, thanks to Bobbie and Randy, and will be loved and will continue to
be enjoyed by all the Windy’s of our world.
What an honor when
the world renowned collector and general expert on GWTW, Herb Bridges, came up
to us and complemented us on the authenticity we accomplished with our
dollhouse. See more close-ups of each room under GWTW
Dollhouse on the web site.
Bobbie
has featured it on her Scarlett O'Hardy's GWTW Museum under Museum Tour.
http://www.scarlettohardy.com/MuseumTour.htm
Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
The
GWTW Museum was not only educational but also very pleasing to the
eye. Have you ever
been in museums where everything was all very musty looking? I found this museum
exciting and full of colorful history about of Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel and David O. Selznick’s Academy Award-winning motion
picture that premiered in 1939 in Atlanta Georgia. This movie will live on as
long is a breath of Southern air to keep it alive.
We
spent most of the afternoon looking at all the memorability and visiting with
other
Windy’s, listening to all kinds of stories about the book/movie
and about their collections. We admired Bobbie's GWTW Christmas Tree that ,
I believe, is up year around with her collection of Madam Alexander GWTW dolls
and other ornaments. If we look close we may see a few of my hand painted
GWTW balls.
We met John Wiley, Jr., the writer and publisher of
The Scarlett Letter.
We got back to Falling Leaves just in time to
dress in r
ed, white
and blue outfits for
the Texas Bar-B-Q at
the Lions Park just across the street from the Museum. We walked over since it
was only two blocks away from Autumn Leaves.
It was interesting to see all the red, white and blue outfits. We met a Lora and Jay in their period
costumes. They were so elegant.
For our entertainment Bobbie had invited a real Rhett
Butler owner of Rhett Butler Trucking Line to bring his fabulous 18 wheeler
semi-tractor truck that had the whole Gone With The Wind story in pictures
painted all around the truck even under the motor hood. Then when it got dark he lit it up with
all the dramatic lights. It was all a literal
feast for the eyes. We
had Rhett Butler autograph our program. Yes the owner’s real name was Rhett
Butler. We bought a metal replica of the original GWTW truck for $60. Yes I was standing there with Rhett
Butler arm around me as he presented me with our autographed truck. We were told
the trucks were limited editions and they were in their very last box with
only 10 left. We were told they were already worth
$190 each if left in tack in their boxes.
We had a great barbeque meal while visiting with some very nice
people at our table. Linda was the name of
the nice lady that sat at the
table with us. Then she
and her husband sat with at the Gala on Saturday night. Some
of the guests were of the Canine persuasion. Bobbie's
daughter, Randa, had her pet Peaches there with her
Bobbie had Cammie King (Bonnie Blue) draw names for door
prizes, which were the western boot centerpieces from each table. Danny won one of the boots. When he went
up to receive his prize Bobbie introduce us as the builders of the GWTW Mansion
Dollhouse.
Following the drawing it was announce that Randy Hardy would
take tours thru a portion of 
their fabulous
home. We had heard they would not have tours of the house cause they
had so many
house guests. This beautiful home sits right next to the museum. Most of
the year they open it as a B & B and have tours at special times of
the year like Christmas. Danny and I were lucky enough to get to in on the
first tour. I knew it would be
beautiful and I was right. The photo to
left is the Hardy family.
Saturday morning we were up early, dressed and having breakfast by 8 am.
The 
Falling Leaves B & B dining room was sit up beautifully and we
were served a wonderful gourmet breakfast prepared by our hosts Lisa and Mike Barry. Starting with me with the silly look on my face,
ne
xt is Saundra from Georgia, Danny, and Carleen from Bedford. Lisa took the photo. I wish I had gotten a close up of
our plate and written down the menu. It
was so beautifully presented and delicious.
Today promised to be a busy day with
all the activities taking place at the Cypress Valley Alliance
Center in the Historical district of Jefferson. Danny decided not to join me
hearing the speakers. He opted for
walking around the town to see what might be there. He did talk to the Civil war re-enactor that I mentioned
earlier was sitting in front of one of the Antique Shops.
We were to meet up at 11:30.
Before
the speaker started I had some time to visit Bobbie’s gift shop at the Center.
I bought a GWTW purse and one small
poster I had admired back at he museum.
Mary Jane Sinclair was the
first speaker. As I listening to
her talk, I learned that the 
avid GWTW collectors usually have one aspect or
person from the movie that they are passionate about. Mary Jane’s passion was
Ashley Wilkes and collected anything Ashley Wilkes. She knew all about him and about how he died in a plane crash
during the war. Churchill was
scheduled to be in the same plane as he but at the last minute Churchill was
taken off that plane and moved to another. Do you think they might have
suspected something might happen?
After Mary Jane finished her talk she played the theme from GWTW on her harp. I
learned from the program that Mary Jane is a professional harpist for thirty
years, and has preformed for President George Bush, Sr., Gene Tierney, and Jonas
Salk. She and her husband are
Houston residents and are the parents of one daughter, Leslie, named after Mary’s
GWTW passion. After playing the
theme from GWTW she played a medley of her other music on her CD. I knew I had to have one of her CD’s. She was going to be selling them during
Cammie King's autograph session at 2 pm. I
did get her autograph and this photo her playing harp with me behind her at this
time.
My
dress in the photo above with Mary Jane is Scarlett's War dress and the least favorite dress but the
dress that was worn in the most scenes from the birth of Melane's baby to when
Scarlett had to kill the Yankee intruder. Selznick ordered at least 18 of
these dresses made in different degrees of tattered. I wore this dress all
day Saturday cause I was working most of the day.
The next speaker was George
Terrell Jr. He is from Alabama where
he once taught 
and is
now chairman of the Social
Science Department. The
program told us he was curator of the Gone With The Wind Remembered Exhibit
sponsored by Gadsden’s Mary G Harden Center of Cultural Arts. He
presented a slide show and was very informative, entertaining and humorous as he
told us of his research on GWTW and his passion for anything Bonnie Blue. Near the end of his talk I had to
slip out to meet Danny. I brought
him back to hear the last few minutes of George's talk. He was so
funny. George as well as all the speakers became our friends. This
photo was taken on Sunday. Saturday night at the Gala he wore a funny
costume that a spoofed Scarlett's curtain dress with this Texas hat with a
rubber chicken on it. He chose to wear the hat again on
Sunday. You will see his whole costume pictured in the Gala Costume
Winners.
After hearing all I had
experienced, Danny said he wished he had stayed to hear the speakers with me. He did enjoy the rest of the speakers.
At
noon we hurried to get my booth set up in the GWTW Sales Room.
For lunch, Danny got himself a malt that he had been looking forward
to. I had lunch provided by Bobbie for the workers. The Sales
Room doors opened at 1 pm. I
had painted 32 Bonnie Blue and GWTW Ornaments and emu eggs. I sold about half of them and broke one
egg before 2 o’clock.
Cammie King (Bonnie Blue Butler) spoke at 2. We learned, from the
program, that Cammie went
on to play the voice of Disney’s Bambie, and then quit the movie business
because her mother wanted her to have a normal childhood. She retiring from being a market
coordinator for the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coste Chamber of Commerce. She now delights audiences across the
country with her program “ Tea with Bonnie Blue Butler.” She was five
years old when the movie was made. She told us of what she remembered
from playing the part of Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone With The Wind. Bonnie
was the headstrong daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara. Cammie shared
memories of making the movie, anecdotes about the film and its stars and
behind-the-scenes accounts. She did
remember being held by this big nice man but 
that to her knowledge did not have
bad breath but she never appreciated how special the moment was until she was
grown and wished to be held in the arms of the handsome Rhett Butler. The
last part of the “ Tea with
Bonnie Blue Butler” was the tea and
cookies on the terrace and an autograph session. There were over 300 there for autographs.
Since
the Sales Room people were sit up at the same time, we were allowed to be first
in line at the Tea and Autograph Session so we could go back take care of our
booths. Mary
Jane Sinclair came in and was admiring my ornaments. I told her I wanted one of her CDs. Remember she was the first speaker this morning that was the
Harpist. I said we could boarder. She said, Great! So I wrapped up one of the ornaments for her.
When I went
to to get my CD from May Jane, she promptly autographed it for me. Danny walked up about that time. I asked if she would play a little of
GWTW for him on her harp. She
teased him that she would not cause he didn’t come to the talked this morning,
then she smiled and sit down to played it beautifully for him. Now the CD will mean more to the both of
us.
When I got home and listened to all the
music. There was only about 2 out of 29 I did not recognize at first. Even Danny and my favorite song,
Unchained Melody was there. The
music just gives me goose bumps, it is so beautiful, romantic and relaxing. I played it for my art students and they
wanted one of the CDs. I am listening to it now while I am writing.
Back to the weekend, we left the center at 4 to have a
rest and
get
ready for the Costume Gala
and Old South Dinner. I dressed in my Scarlett’s Sprig dress and hat with corset, hoped skirt and
pantaloons. Danny wore his Rhett
Butler tux. We saw Lisa, our hostess, before we
left. She was dressed in a black tux with a chicken headdress and
feather mask and tail feather coming out of the slit in the tux in the back. She
was the Last Chicken in Atlanta that Pork had to kill for Christmas
dinner when Ashley came home for a visit.
Saundra was Bell Watley.
Carleen didn’t bring a costume. They
rode with us to the Gala Banquet.
We waited in the hall till the Gala was due to begin at 7 pm. Since my passion is theThere were so many nice and a few funny costumes from the
movie I just didn't know which way to turn. I say about 6 other Scarlett’s in the Green Sprig Dress. Only one better than mine because her
fabric was exact but her hat was white and mine was straw like Scarlett’s. This was just our opinion.
There were a few of the green curtain dresses. This one worn by Vicky
Rogers caught my eye. Thanks to Vicky and husband Michael for buy almost
half of my GWTW Christmas ornaments. There were a few in the Red Shame
Dress. The
one worn by Renda, Bobbie's daughter was exquisite. She won the Scarlett
category.
We
entered the beautifully decorated ballroom. The l table settings were breath
taking. The band playing the old South music just set the tone for the
evening. We were
served wine
and helped ourselves to great, wonderful, marvelous all Southern food with names
like Mammy’s Chicken and dumplings, Rhett’s New Orleans shrimp and dressing,
Scarlett’s something, Meline’s squash something, Ashley’s cornbread, Aunt
Pitty’s chicken something. The
deserts were banana pudding, pineapple cake, apple pie, and pecan pie. Do not remember all the names but each
were named after a character from the book/movie. Remember I wore a corset with my costume
so I just could not eat all I wanted but I sure tried. The high light of the
food was a cake made in the shape of Tara with chocolate shingles. Bobbie presented Cammie King (Bonnie
Blue) with the honor of cutting the cake. All
had a taste of the cake in honor of the weekend.
The winners of the costume
contests were:
They were each
presented with a framed certificate for winning.
We
were disappointed that one of the Civil War soldiers and Aunt Pitty didn't win
also. Then it would have been a perfect lineup.
The Hood’s
Texas Brigade Brass Band from Hill
College, Hillsboro, Texas played for the Gala and
dance. Pictured here behind Randy & Bobbie Hardy. This
band plays music from the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, one of
the more extensive collections of Civil War band music in existence today. They are the only band of this kind west
of the Mississippi River and one of only a few in the United States. They were wonderful to listen and to
clap and tap your toes too.
Later they
played for the Grand March and Virginia Real dance under the giant mural of
Rhett and Scarlett. Lora & Jay in their wedding costumes lead
the grand march and the Virginia Real. Danny
and I so wanted to join in but got there a little to late. The banquet broke up at 10 pm.
This was truly an evening to remember.
Sunday
morning at our B&B we were greeted first by a cup of hot coffee as sit on 
the back screened in
porch at Autumn Leaves. The
family-cat and cutest little kitten entertained us. The morning breeze was
wonderful. The weather was perfect all weekend. When we were called to breakfast
we were treated to yet another great, but different, gourmet breakfast. Cream Brulee French Toast was delicious. I
never knew breakfast could be so different and so delicious.
We had to rush off to hear Herb Bridges talk. His talk was mainly about the 3 days of
the Premier of the Gone With The Wind in Atlanta in 1939. Herb is a world-renowned collector,
lecturer, author and general expert on the subject of Gone With the Wind. He has been collecting GWTW memorabilia
for the last 40 years.
He has
donated parts of his collections to Georgia museums: The Margaret Mitchell House
in Atlanta, and The Road to Tara Museum now in Jonesboro. Danny and I visited the latter museum
when it was in the basement of the Georgian Terrace Hotel across the street from
the theatre where movie first premiered. I
believe I heard that Herb now owns and operated The Road To Tara Museum in
Jonesboro, Georgia. Please
correct me if I am wrong.
Pictured
here is Cammie King/Bonnie Blue and Herb Bridges with me in the middle.
I think this is my most treasure photo of all. This photo was taken on
Saturday during Cammie's (Bonnie Blue) autograph session.
The last 30 minutes of the
weekend at Tara in Texas were the Souvenir Distribution, Presentations and
Raffle Prize Drawings and the closing remarks and proclamations. Danny won a Herb Bridges bag of goodies. Herb just happened to be sitting next to
us so I got his autograph on the bag.
There were three other drawings then Danny won again. This time it was a pair shoes
worn
by Cammie King (Bonnie “Bonnie Blue's overly
priced Ferragomo which do not fit. As Mammy said, “They ain’t fittin,
they just ain’t fittin!” We
were sitting just behind Cammie so just as he got to her he gave her a thank-
you-hug and exchanged a word or two. Then
just after he set down George Terrill came up behind us 
and said he would pay $100
for those shoes. Remember George’s passion is anything Bonnie Blue? We said we would think about it
and let him know. We decided the shoes should be with someone that would show
them, so more would get to enjoy the history involved with the fact the grown
lady that wore these shoes played the part of Bonnie Blue Butler in the movie Gone
With The Wind. We decided not to give up the card. We told Cammie about George’s offer and would she mind if
we let him have the shoes. She said
no she would not mind. He was her
friend and she knew George wanted them bad.
She teasingly said "stick it to him good". We laughed. George earlier told me he wanted to buy
some of my ornaments and did I have any left.
He had not been able to get to the Sales Room. I told him I would bring them today. So I went to find him and told him he
could have the shoes. He was so
happy. Then he asked if I brought
the ornaments. He took one of every
one I had left and two other ladies took the last three. All of my ornaments were sold.
George told me how impressed he was with our Gone With the Wind
Mansion dollhouse.
Later,
as we were telling her goodbye, Bobbie told us, when George
before the
weekend opened, he was overwhelmed with the dollhouse but said it
As I am sharing my experiences with
you, you might like to share your GWTW experience me. Just email me at lindahass@countryartsgallery.com
If you enjoyed my page I would love to hear from you.
I have a little want-list. I
missed getting a few photos. If you have any you could share with me by
email or send the to me at the address below.
Here are the ones I am particularly
looking for.
the back screened in
porch at Autumn Leaves. The
family-cat and cutest little kitten entertained us. The morning breeze was
wonderful. The weather was perfect all weekend. When we were called to breakfast
we were treated to yet another great, but different, gourmet breakfast. Cream Brulee French Toast was delicious. I
never knew breakfast could be so different and so delicious.
Pictured
here is Cammie King/Bonnie Blue and Herb Bridges with me in the middle. 
worn
by Cammie King (Bonnie “Bonnie Blue's overly
priced Ferragomo which do not fit. As Mammy said, “They ain’t fittin,
they just ain’t fittin!” We
were sitting just behind Cammie so just as he got to her he gave her a thank-
you-hug and exchanged a word or two. Then
just after he set down George Terrill came up behind us 
and said he would pay $100
for those shoes. Remember George’s passion is anything Bonnie Blue? We said we would think about it
and let him know. We decided the shoes should be with someone that would show
them, so more would get to enjoy the history involved with the fact the grown
lady that wore these shoes played the part of Bonnie Blue Butler in the movie Gone
With The Wind. We decided not to give up the card. We told Cammie about George’s offer and would she mind if
we let him have the shoes. She said
no she would not mind. He was her
friend and she knew George wanted them bad.
She teasingly said "stick it to him good". We laughed. George earlier told me he wanted to buy
some of my ornaments and did I have any left.
He had not been able to get to the Sales Room. I told him I would bring them today. So I went to find him and told him he
could have the shoes. He was so
happy. Then he asked if I brought
the ornaments. He took one of every
one I had left and two other ladies took the last three. All of my ornaments were sold.
George told me how impressed he was with our Gone With the Wind
Mansion dollhouse. 
before the
weekend opened, he was overwhelmed with the dollhouse but said it
