Our town: JonesboroMuseum combines fact and fiction to replicate Civil War era

Hours: 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $7 adults, $6 seniors and children.

Coach tours of Jonesboro are $24.95 adults, $21.95 seniors, $13.95 for children 12 and younger.

For tour times and reservations, call 800-662-7829.

As 2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in Georgia, many of the communities around the metro area will be showcasing their connections to history. In Jonesboro, channeling the stories, personalities, and in some cases, the physical locations that existed during the war years isn’t just confined to major remembrances; it goes on year-round.

Much of the town’s war history is centered around the Battle of Jonesboro, a decisive engagement in late August 1864. That event was one part of the war saga that inspired “Gone with the Wind,” the award-winning book and movie based on the family stories author Margaret Mitchell heard growing up as a child. Since her clan owned land close by, Jonesboro has long claimed the distinction of providing the real-life backdrop for the book’s fictitious Tara plantation.

While there are no plantation homes left to tour, history buffs and fans who love both the book and film will find plenty to sate their curiosity in the town’s Road to Tara museum, housed in the former train depot beside the tracks in the heart of town. Ten years ago, the Clayton County Convention and Visitors Bureau transformed the historic building into a repository for an array of GWTW items, from first editions of the book to movie posters, autographed photos, costumes - even seats from the Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta where the film premiered in 1939.

The museum recently added to its collection with a number of items donated by Ann Rutherford, the actress who portrayed Scarlett’s sister, Carreen, in the movie. When she died in 2012, Rutherford bequeathed items to the museum. The actress had visited the site a few years before when she unveiled a replica of a dress she wore in the film.

Now, character portraits from the 1939 Atlanta premiere and an array of Rutherford’s signed magazine covers and photos join the already extensive collection of items that focus on the movie’s main and secondary characters. There are signed scripts, autographed photos of Olivia de Haviland, the tiny-waisted pantalettes sported by Vivian Leigh and several gowns worn by the film’s actresses. Amid the memorabilia are Scarlett dolls, figurines, Tara dollhouses, a display that traces the life of Margaret Mitchell, and an exhibit that explores the myth of the Southern “mammy.”

Visitors can also explore the era that provided the book’s backdrop and the significance the area played in 1864.

“We’ve added two exhibits based on the Civil War,” said museum’s Danielle Conroy. “We now have a campaign room that focuses on the Battle of Atlanta and Jonesboro that marks its 150th anniversary this year.”

Along with seeing the museum, visitors can take a minibus tour of the town’s war-related sites. A taped narrative points out where Union and Confederate forces fought along the train tracks that split the center of town; takes riders by significant homes and structures still standing after 150 years; and stops at the Confederate cemetery where many unnamed soldiers were interred after the battle. Reservations for the driving tours are required.