Margaret Mitchell House – Atlanta, Georgia - Atlas Obscura

Margaret Mitchell House

The small first-floor apartment where the author wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'Gone with the Wind.' 

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The first-floor apartment of this turn-of-the-century Tudor Revival mansion has been converted into a museum and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was referred to by author Margaret Mitchell (aka Peggy Marsh) as “the Dump,” but it now serves as a must-see spot for literature enthusiasts.

Mitchell moved into Apartment 1 at the Crescent Apartments in Atlanta with her second husband, John Robert Marsh, who had been the best man at her first wedding to Berrien “Red” Kinnard Upshaw. Here she began writing, chapter by chapter, what would become one of the seminal works of southern literature.

She began writing the book in 1926 while recovering from the injuries she sustained in a car crash. Rather than rush to publish her work, however, she tucked each chapter into separate envelopes and hid them around the house. The final product, Gone with the Wind, is still read and studied today for its idealized depiction of the antebellum South, as well as for its complex main character Scarlett O’Hara, who is arguably the first fully developed “modern female protagonist” in American literature.

Among other items celebrating both the book and movie, Gone with the Wind, visitors at the Margaret Mitchell House can see Mitchell’s original Underwood typewriter and also wander through a “please touch” recreation of her home as it would likely have appeared during her time there (complete with references to her interest in erotica).

Update: The Margaret Mitchell House Museum is temporarily closed for renovations. It is expected to re-open in 2023.

Know Before You Go

The Margaret Mitchell House Museum is temporarily closed for renovations. It is expected to re-open in 2023.


Limited free parking is available in designated spaces at 979 Crescent Ave NE. Paid street parking is also available in the surrounding area. There is paid public garage located at 930 Juniper Street as well.


As for public transportation, take the MARTA train to the Midtown Station. Exit towards Peachtree Place NE and proceed east towards Cypress Street. Turn left at Crescent Avenue and the Margaret Mitchell House entrance will be on your right.

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December 3, 2018
August 16, 2022

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