Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

's 1936 novel ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'', Twelve Oaks is the plantation home of the Wilkes family in

Clayton County, Georgia Clayton County is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 297,595 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The county seat is Jonesboro. Clayton County is one of the core counties of the ...

named for the twelve great

oak tree An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the Fagaceae, beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northe ...

s that surround the family mansion in an almost perfect circle. Twelve Oaks was described as a "beautiful white-columned house that crowned the hill like a Greek Temple," having true southern charm and whimsy. Margaret Mitchell came up with the idea for The Twelve Oaks, and modeled the home after an actual antebellum mansion located in the historic area of Covington, Georgia. The home that was portrayed as Margaret Mitchell's Twelve Oaks in the 1939 film has been renovated and is now open as a bed and breakfast and event facility in Covington, thirty minutes east of Atlanta.

Book and film representation

John Wilkes

John Wilkes is the elderly widowed patriarch of the family that includes his son Ashley and two unmarried daughters, India Wilkes and Honey. The Wilkeses are among the wealthiest families in the county, with land, slaves and money second only to those of the large and hardy Tarleton family of Fairhill Plantation. The Wilkeses are revered by the county folks for their generosity and good nature, but also considered slightly odd because of their interests in reading books and traveling to the North to hear music and view paintings—this sophistication and elegance is attributed to their grandfather being from Virginia, and to them marrying their cousins.

Scarlett O'Hara

When the novel begins, Gerald O'Hara is returning from Twelve Oaks (having purchased a slave to be wife to his devoted valet Pork) with the news that

Ashley Wilkes George Ashley Wilkes is a fictional character in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind (novel), Gone with the Wind'' and the 1939 Gone with the Wind (film), film of the same name. The character also appears in the 1991 book ''Sca ...

, with whom 16-year-old

Scarlett O'Hara Katie Scarlett O'Hara is the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 in literature, 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind (novel), Gone with the Wind'' and the 1939 Gone with the Wind (film), film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Le ...

is convinced she is in love, has just formally become engaged to his second cousin, Melanie Hamilton of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. In spite for what she perceives as Ashley spurning her, Scarlett accepts the impromptu proposal of Melanie's brother Charles, who was expected by all to marry Honey Wilkes (though changed to India in the film, which omits the character of Honey) and as such becomes a relative by marriage to both Melanie and Ashley. Twelve Oaks suffers terribly in the war from the same shortages and privations as its neighbors. The family is also decimated as first Charles Hamilton dies of pneumonia, then John Wilkes is killed in combat (though elderly, he joined the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...

in defense of Atlanta). The mansion is looted and burned by Union troops in 1864; Scarlett finds a straggling cow in the ruins of the home and enough beans and turnips for a meal from its slave quarters gardens but otherwise it is a total loss. Presumably the remnant of the Wilkes family were subject to the same taxes that necessitate Scarlett's marriage to Frank Kennedy to save her own family's home, Tara; the lands were seized when they could not pay.

Mansion discrepancy

The representation of the plantation house at Tara in the film ''

'' corresponds more or less to the description of the house in the novel. The portrayal of the mansion at Twelve Oaks in the film is exaggerated and bears more resemblance to the

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

mansions popular in the United States in the first quarter of the 20th Century than it does to the home of an antebellum planter in rural Georgia. During the film's pre-production period, this discrepancy raised mild disapproval from author

. Mitchell had envisioned a more ordinary and historically accurate house.Vertrees, David Allen, 1997, ''Selznick's Vision: Gone With the Wind and Hollywood Filmmaking'', University of Texas Press, . Nevertheless, it is the stately mansion from the film with its

imperial staircase An imperial staircase (sometimes erroneously known as a "double staircase") is the name given to a staircase with divided flights. Usually the first flight rises to a half-landing and then divides into two symmetrical flights both rising with ...

and improbably high-ceilinged corridors (the product of early paint-on-glass style special effect rather than a physical set) that remains in the public mind as the iconic image of "Twelve Oaks" rather than the more restrained

Greek revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

house described in the novel.Myrick, Susan, 1982, ''White Columns in Hollywood: Reports from the Gone with the Wind Sets'', Mercer University Press, .

The Vampire Diaries

The estate was used as the exterior of the Salvatore's 1864 home in “

The Vampire Diaries ''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the The Vampire Diaries (novel series), book series ...

”(2009).

The Twelve Oaks mansion

Built in 1836, The Twelve Oaks in Covington, Georgia is over 11,000 square feet. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is considered by many to be one of the best examples of antebellum architecture in the south. It has been featured in numerous publications and books and, since opening as a bed and breakfast, has received numerous awards. In his book ''Antebellum Homes of Georgia'', David King Gleason writes, "Margaret Mitchell saw a photograph of the house in the '' Atlanta Journal'' in February, 1939. She sent the clipping to Atlanta historian and Civil War authority, Wilbur Kurtz who was in Hollywood consulting with the set designers for ''Gone With the Wind'', saying, ‘I like this for Ashley's home,’ referring to Twelve Oaks." In

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (born David Selznick; May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca (1940 film), Rebecca'' (1 ...

's film ''Gone with the Wind'', the article is posted next to Twelve Oaks in the movie, so the viewer can see how Margaret Mitchell's inspiration materialized.

References

External links

The Twelve Oaks
site, now a bed and breakfast in Covington, Georgia. {{Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind Fictional farms Clayton County, Georgia Fictional houses Fictional elements introduced in 1936 Fictional buildings and structures originating in literature