My question assumes that the depiction in Gone With The Wind was reliable enough to say that plantation owners in the deep south would throw lavish afternoon parties with many attendees, or close enough. If the depiction was not accurate, did afternoon parties like that exist in the 1850s southern U.S. and what were they like?
How did families attend such parties? How far did they travel? How did they travel? What would the travel time be like? Would they arrive the day of the party and leave the evening just after the party, or would they lodge somewhere? Where would they lodge? Would hosts be expected to put up attendees to such a party? How long would attendees stay if staying with the host? Plantations are seemingly quite large and therefore spread out. How is it possible that so many people would travel to congregate on one plantation? I assume they would arrive by carriage, how far could a typical carriage in the 1850s U.S.
The plantation Tara was depicted as being close to the city of Jonesboro, GA, about 20 miles south of Atlanta. Would rich citizens travel from Atlanta to a plantation 20 miles away for an afternoon party? How long would it take and was it possible to make the to and from trip in the same day?
Whenever guests came over pre-auto, those guests normally stayed over at the house of the host. Victorians took their visits seriously, and to not return a visit, or to not offer a visit was a social slap in the head. To turn away a visitor, excluding for safety reasons such as a state of quarantine, was like saying, "you're dead to me." It wouldn't have been unknown for multiple people to share a bed [with gender segregation], and for the menu to be fancy on only the party day. The remainder of the visit would have more mundane food, which would not change for weeks at a time. Stagnant menus were universal, as food sources were seasonal. A plantation layout was never standardized, nor even that regionally distinct. Each one was like a world unto itself, with more in common with a self sustaining manor house from Britain or pre-revolution France, than a mansion estate today. Some had main houses that were huge, some small, other had multiple houses. Even architectural styling was totally up to the owners, but there was some time based and regional norms. The book manor was ad-hoc and build on over time, where as the film manor looks like it was pulled right out of a ready-made catalog. [Which Sears and Roebuck had! The house model was 'The Magnolia", and a few still exist] The massive head count at the party as the film depicts could be a bit fantasy based, but the ball in Atlanta, with it's hotels and lodging industry, would be very realistic.