The Day we Toured The “Gone with the Wind” Mansion

This is the story of the day we toured the “Gone with the Wind” mansion in Covington. The “Gone With the Wind Mansion” is the “Twelve Oaks Mansion,” which is now a B&B and we went completely through it during the pre-auction open house, back in 2019

So, I guess keep in mind that there may have been some updates.

Film Maker David O. Selznik used it as a backdrop in the Second Most Famous Movie produced in 1939, “Gone with the Wind.”

Back Story (OK, Millennials)

In the year 1939, the year that the Firefly was constructed, people did not do “streaming”. That is because there was no such thing as the internet. There were also no microwave ovens, city water or natural gas. If people wanted to be entertained they had to go to town to watch a movie.

The second most famous movie of this era was “Gone with the Wind”. This film is rather long by today’s standards and had no CGA effects. IMDB gave it an 8.1 (Link). It was based on a book written by local author Margaret Mitchell. People in those days made books out of paper, and you could throw them at people.

No one could make this movie today. In a real sense it touches on the unresolved issues that are still around today. The story has too much violence, it dealt with slavery, still an intense issue at the time, and it is too long for today’s audiences. At the time, people went to the movie theater because it was the only building in town that had air conditioning. They did not care how long it was.

As part of the backdrop, David O. Selznick, the Producer, chose the front of a lovely mansion in Covington GA. We talked about Covington earlier as a fun place to visit.

Where is the Gone with the Wind Mansion?

This lovely place is at 2176 Monticello St. SW in Covington, and is a minute or two away from the town square. If you choose to Zillow this place, here is the link. (Zillow). This is a real house, and in 2019 it sold at auction for $2.2 million dollars, which may or may not be a bargain. This house is 11,200 square feet.

The “original owners” built this place 1839. The most recent owners had purchased the place for $450K in 2009, at the depths of the real estate bust. According to the tour guide, the owners put nearly $2M in to the place for remodeling, which meant that they ended up breaking questionably even on it. We can talk about the merits of this type of real estate investment later.

We actually got the “inside tour”. The auction company was letting people through it just before the auction in September.

Here is the website. (Link to Website). In 2020 the new owners reopened it as a B&B. Apparently they are not offering tours of the place itself yet. They do have a link on their website for the Downtown Trolley tours which are going on.

You may tour the Firefly anytime you want. The Gone with the Wind Mansion is available for limited bookings, if you are in the mood for that kind of adventure. It is a bit of a different experience compared to the Firefly.

The Bedrooms at the Gone with the Wind Mansion

There are 12 bedrooms, and 13 bathrooms, and they are all decked out in very high end vintage furniture. The previous owner-occupants stayed in two of the bedrooms on the third floor and had a large office and family space.

The tour guide at the time explained that the meticulously selected furniture was not going to be included in the sale. Since the new owners were able to get it up so quickly, and some of the furniture is pictured on the website, my guess is that there may have been some side deal.

These rooms were very pleasant, four-poster beds are the norm. The windows in the place are large. In addition to Gone with the Wind, a lot of other films have had scenes in this place, and it is definitely movie-worthy.

The Bathrooms

This is one of the renovation things. People were a lot less interested in bathrooms historically. Now, however, from a business standpoint, customers like their privacy. So one of the projects was to install 12 bathrooms in 12 rooms.

The bathrooms have the same basic design: Elegant acrylic bathtub and/or shower, tile floor designed around the fixtures, and a beautiful window for incoming light. There were chandeliers throughout.

The Gone with the Wind Mansion Kitchen

The kitchen in this place was very impressive. There was a large open space, suitable for parties. This is because when you have a lot of people over, the party is always in the kitchen.

The appliances were commercial-grade, installed because of the need for this place to hold events. There was a large pantry and the refrigerator was built-in to look like a piece of furniture.

The Gone with the Wind Basement

The basement of this place was not meant for public viewing. In addition to two huge hot water heaters, and two huge air conditioning units, the outside walls which were original to the place were merely brick. Someone installed a sump pump at some point.

Can you imagine the dashing hero Ashley down there in a basement full of goo? I just have to laugh at the idea. We have a photo, but out of respect for the new owners, we will keep it to ourselves.

The Twelve Oaks Mansion Exterior Landscaping

I suppose of all of the things about this place, this one actually got it into the movies. This beautiful antebellum exterior is surrounded by the traditional trees. This includes oak, live oak, and other trees typical of the area. There is a fish pond and a rather luxurious pool area. A large green space behind the building. is big enough for a tent and/or stage. There is also what looks like a carriage shed. A former greenhouse exists in the back.

The entire place sits on about 3 acres in the heart of Covington.

Twelve Oaks Mansion as a Day Trip

Perfect. Easy drive, beautiful place, and very pleasant surroundings. They have Cookies with Santa.

Twelve Oaks Mansion as a B&B

Depending on what floats your boat, this would also be very pleasant. It is a completely different experience than the Firefly. Elegant furnishings, lots of stairs, and quite pleasant. They probably discourage kids, and are not big on dogs. Chickens roaming the property are probably not happening but we did see a resident cat.

We discussed this at length in our book “Inn Sweet Inn” as well, and I will provide a link down below.

We are supportive of human effort in all of its forms. According to the available information, you can stay in this place at the moment for about $320 a night, plus taxes and service fees of a variety of kinds. We are not threatened by them, and wish them well because they are not our competition.

They have 6 reviews on Airbnb and you can’t check availability because it is blocked off. Evidently they prefer you to go through some other portal.

They have 187 positive reviews and that is a good thing.

The Gone with the Wind Mansion as a Real Estate Investment

The recent owners probably broke pretty close to even on their investment, depending on what they got for the furniture. The entry price was $450K, the exit price was $2.2M, the investment was reportedly around $2M to refurbish the place, plus there were costs in the meantime. The owners ran it for about 7 years as a Bed and Breakfast and probably enjoyed a tax writeoff.

This more or less comes down to one question: How much premium would a buyer be willing to pay because of this historical provenance. It is a unique property, irreplaceable in its way, and hard to put a value on it based on comparables. A bank would probably not touch a mortgage on that much anyway. As the generation who watched “Gone with the Wind” starts to fade away, will the place have its same value?

The value of the interior furnishings, which had been meticulously chosen by the owner, is untold.

The Twelve Oaks Business Plan

So let’s say you have a couple of million dollars, and want to live out the American Dream by buying this place.

At the time we toured it, the lucky owners of the Gone with the Wind Mansion have all of the permits for weddings and social events, but not necessarily for tours yet. The licensing and inspection for B&B use is in place, and the owners were operating this place as a B&B. They had to stop because of health issues. The house is currently zoned commercial.

The Zillow “Tax History” is not available, but if you have the ability to scout the Newton County Tax Rolls, the place is currently “valued” at about $1.9 Million.

When we looked it up a few years ago, we found out that the county collects property taxes for Twelve Oaks Mansion on the order of $1000/month. We’re going to estimate that the taxes are going to be the same as the Kirby House was in Madison.

The previous owners basically retained a housekeeper and landscaper full time because they needed to keep the place in shape. We also know that a house this old requires a lot of repair work. We have done their business plan.

To balance that out on the revenue side, there is a certain fraction of the public who would love to stay in a 150 year old piece of history, and it might very well be a unique experience.

If you make the conservative assumption that the B&B has the same seasonality as the local Hampton Inn, they are doing very well. If it is better, because they have history on their side, so much the better.

Interesting place.

Bed and Breakfast Life

We’re about to invent “B&B Surfing”. This is where you go on a road trip, and experience the Bed and Breakfast Life by going from one B&B to the next. We would group these based on elegance, and this will be one of the high end options locally. We want to have one for farmstays, like us, and another one for the Wayfair Houses. We’ve told you about those places.

This place is discussed in our book, as well as our upcoming book on Bed and Breakfast Hosting. This goes along with the concept of matching the Bed and Breakfast with the Guest. We’ve stayed in more than 50 B&B’s and have some stories to tell, like this one.

As we said earlier, we don’t see this as competition. They’re after a different guest. Your high-end guest would enjoy this place thoroughly.

We do see the Gone with the Wind Mansion as an example of “what if.” We appreciate human effort, and taking a chance.