Margaret Mitchell House — Attraction in Atlanta

We were blessed with the "donation" of the Margaret Mitchell House. I love the book "Gone with the wind" I was diffently disappointed when less than a week before our Vow Renewal...Shelby the lady who we had meet with was so helpful. Told us our ceremony would be at 2pm and we needed to vacate at 6pm. Two weeks prior to our big day..after invitations had neen mailed and RSVPs were being sent back. Now we had been told we couldn't have our ceremony at 2pm..as the museum closed at 5:30. I had to resend notices to all guests and my coordinator had to contact all vendors. That was just the beginning...we were graciously recipient's of the venue for free. I am terminally ill. The week of our day my coordinator asked me to send the contract back to Shelby. No problem...so I thought. Shelby wanted to charge us $1600..we were all under the impression that donated means free. They wanted to charge us for coke drinks and water. I wish looking back that we would have bought the drinks and glassrs ourselves. We don't have that kind of money. My free money goes to Winship Cancer Institute. Absolute shock $1600. My coordinator as as shocked as we were. Looking for another venue was out of the question although my coordinator gave it a good shot trying to find a place but Wedding venues book quickly. After my coordinator talked to her she dropped the price to $700+. All of our other vendors did as they said their service was free. Shelby at the MMH dropped the price to $305. She was charging us for coke and water. She backed us into a corner we had no choice but to borrow the money. Please if the MMH is an option for your event....get everything from day one in writing. Poor business and Shelby shouldn't have offered the venue for free if she was going to charge. I'm still rather bitter but we had a wonderful ceremony and enjoyed our time with guests and family. House is beautiful but staff needs to know more about what they are telling clients. They need to stick with what the tell their clients. ...

This is my second visit to the Margaret Mitchell House, the first time was in 2014. Sadly, I feel the site was not as interesting as the first time. In 2014 there were docents who spoke to groups in each of the room representing her living space. These people were very interesting and had many anecdotes about Margaret’s life. Now there are placards to read which do not convey the same depth of interest. Also, there use to be a video of the premier of Gone With The Wind that played on a loop which conveyed the excitement of the fans and actors. Now there is a small alcove with a few artifacts, i.e., programs, theatre seats and photos which do not convey the same excitement of the film. I understand that the book and movie of Gone With the Wind is not representative of the actual lives and times that the story tells, but I think you can add those opinions and corrections to the original exhibit. Reminds me of what they did to the Cyclorama, which was originally housed in a rotating theater with narration which was moved to the Atlanta History Center and is now a painting on a wall with no narration at all. So sad. With regard to the Margaret Mitchell House, I recommend it if you are a fan of hers, but I think you should have some anecdotal information of her because this exhibit in her house is more...

I visited the MM House for the second time in April 2025, and was shocked and disappointed at the changes that had been made since my last visit in 2011. They opted not to preserve the apartment in its entirety. Instead, there is only one preserved room and the bathroom. The rest of the property has been turned into a museum dedicated to African American cinema and lessons on the obvious evils of slavery. While those subjects are definitely worthy of attention and study, people go to the Margaret Mitchell House to learn more about her and her writing, and the context in which she lived and wrote. There remains very little of that. Whomever decided to make the drastic changes to the museum’s focus has totally misread its target audience. They even got rid of the fabulous gift shop! I consider myself very lucky to have seen the apartment in its entirety a decade ago, with a knowledgable tour guide and lots of relevant and interesting items about MM and GWTW for purchase. Perhaps change the name of this museum to something that better matches its new focus so you set the proper expectation...