Driving Through History

Marianne Gardner credits her husband, Larry, with being the catalyst behind Southern Driving Tours, a series of compact discs and downloads offering points of interest in Atlanta and St. Simons Island.

"Larry is a Civil War buff, and he was particularly interested in the local battles, so that’s where the first tour, The Battle Of Peachtree Creek, came from," Gardner said.

That tour first appeared as an audio cassette in the early ‘90s, but now the series has moved to CD and Internet download with two more titles: Margaret Mitchell’s Atlanta and St. Simons Island. The CDs are packaged with a printed map, but many prefer to download the tours directly to their iPod, Gardner said.

Gardner said she spent countless hours researching the points of interest on each tour, as well as making multiple drives of the routes, even taking along friends to gage their interest. For example, the Margaret Mitchell tour begins in Midtown at the Margaret Mitchell House where she wrote Gone With the Wind and ends at her burial place, Oakland Cemetery. In between, there are drive-bys of her last apartment in Ansley Park and other homes and haunts.

"I read a biography of Margaret Mitchell and thought it would make an excellent tour," Gardner said. "She’s such a big part of Atlanta, and so many people want to know about her and what inspired her. The tour also showcases many of the neighborhoods where she lived."

The Battle of Peachtree Creek tour includes accounts from soldiers, music from the era and battle sounds, while St. Simons takes visitors past the lighthouse, Fort Frederica, Christ Church and more. Each tour lasts from half an hour to an hour.

Gardner, who graduated from Georgia State University with a master’s degree in media, does freelance work, but said she wanted to have her own product. The success of the Georgia tours has brought her other work, including consulting on audio driving tour of California’s wine country.

What’s the next tour project? "I haven’t decided yet," she said. "I look for inspiration and what interests me, and that’s when I start researching – and driving."