- President Jimmy Carter
March 5, 2013
Driving in to this small Gerogia town is like driving into some forgotten past. Quiet, neat, nostalgic and reminiscent of earlier times, it is a welcoming place.
The site of Jimmy Carter's campaign, the local depot.
Carter defeated incumbent Gerald Ford by a narrow but conclusive margin. Carter and his family were the first to walk hand in hand down Pennsylvania Avenue after his inauguration at the Capitol.
Few U.S. Presidents have had such close ties with where they were born and raised. The rural southern culture of Plains, Georgia, that revolves around farming, church and school, had a large influence in molding the character and shaping the political policies of the 39th President.
The old Plains High School has been renovated as the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. Over seven years the community of Plains partnered with the NPS to restore the school and adapt it for reuse. The building serves as the park museum/visitor center. There is a restored and furnished classroom and exhibits that explain political and business careers, education, family, religion and post presidency.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, three years younger than her husband Jimmy, graduated from Plains High School in 1944 as class valedictorian receiving the highest grades in her class.
This is President Carter's Nobel Peace Prize located in the hallway of the old high school. Imagine your former high school being renovated into a museum about you.
The auditorium showing a film about Carter's Presidency is often full with busloads of students and tourists coming to Plains.
Jimmy Carter writes poetry and paints. This is an original hanging in the old high school hallway.
I drove out to Jimmy Carter's boyhood home and farm which was owned by Earl Carter, Jimmy's father, from 1928 until the late 1940's. Jimmy Carter lived here from the age of four until he departed for college. The farm is restored to its appearance before electricity was installed in 1938.
Rocking chairs on the front porch
Remember Miss Lillian, Jimmy's amazing mother who went into the Peace Corps? I liked to think of her living here.
The living room
The farm commissary (store) where neighbors would shop for goods
There were animals in the pasture. It seemed that people from the 1930's could step out at any moment and go about the business of the farm.
I have wanted to come here for so long; I will always remember this special place.
Wow, it is as neat to see in the pictures as you described over the phone. I'm envious of this visit. I love that JC's Nobel Peace Prize is there in his old school. So accessible. It's like a reminder that even someone from small-town America, especially someone from the rural South, can make a huge impact on the world.
ReplyDeleteDoes JC still live in Plains? He must be about 89 or so. I agree - it does seem rare that a president would have such a close and special tie to the place where he grew up. I like seeing the Peace Prize, as well as his painting and the farm commissary.
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