'Gone With the Wind' movie and book has a link to south Donegal house

Scarlett O'Hara's famous plantation home, Tara, was based, at least in part, on an historical manor house in Donegal.
Last week in his column Meehan’s Muses, Paddy Meehan wrote a story about the connections between Margaret Mitchell, the author of ‘Gone with the Wind’ and the Ballyshannon and Donegal Town areas.
He asked readers if they could offer any information to substantiate this story.
Paddy wrote:
“'Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn', is a line from the 1939 blockbuster movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.
"The line is spoken by Rhett Butler (Gable) as his last words to Scarlett O’Hara (Leigh) in response to her tearful question “Where shall I go?, What shall I do?”
"Scarlett clings to the hope that she can win him back.
"The movie lines were taken from the best selling novel of the same name written by Atlanta born Margaret Mitchell and published in 1936 from which the movie is derived.
"The profanity in the line was unusual and shocking in America at that time (1939) and the quotation was voted ‘number one movie line’ of all time in 2005.
"A big change to some of the movie lines spoken in this now modern era. I am sure you can guess what some of them would now be!

Coolmore House

"Prior to completion of the novel, Margaret Mitchell spent a brief period in the Ballyshannon, Donegal area where it is believed she may have received inspiration for her novel. Any information on this would be welcome.”

Family connection
Just days after the article appeared Daniela Schwander, the current owner of Coolmore House, contacted the Democrat.
She wrote, "In response to Mr Meehan’s quest for information, I can tell you Margaret Mitchell stayed in Coolmore House in Rossnowlagh (it was a small hotel back then) while she was researching the civil war experience in preparation for writing Gone with the Wind. Apparently the house and staircase stood model for the novel."
Molly Reynolds of Creevy also got in touch to fill us in on the connection.
Barry Sharkey, who previously owned Coolmore House, filled in a few more details.
"She came here to do research and to look for her family roots," he said. "Coolmore was owned by the Mitchell family and she came to see if she was related."
Special thanks to Daniela, Molly and Barry.

The author Margaret Mitchell

New information
If anyone else has other new information, we would love to hear from you, as there is a great story here that the Democrat and Paddy Meehan would like to bring to our readers in full.