PLAINS, Ga. - This sleepy little town in southwest Georgia with a population of 716 seems an unlikely location for the birthplace of a president of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize recipient but in fact it was where our 39th president was born and where he currently lives.
James Earl “Jimmy” Carter was born here Oct. 1, 1924, the first of four children for Earl and Lillian Carter. When Jimmy was four years old the family moved to a farm a few miles from Plains. That farm is now part of a National Historic Site.
Jimmy Carter said of his days spent on the farm, “The early years of my life on the farm were full and enjoyable, isolated but not lonely. We always had enough to eat, no economic hardship but no money to waste. We felt close to nature, close to members of our family and close to God.”
The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains includes the farm, the Plains High School he attended and the train depot that served as headquarters for his 1976 presidential campaign.
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The farm where young Jimmy Carter grew up has been restored to how it was when the family lived there. Along with the home are several outbuildings including the little one used for the “facilities”. The house has wood stoves and fireplaces for heat but no indoor plumbing or electricity.
One unusual feature of the farm is a clay tennis court where the future president developed a life-long love of tennis. In his 1975 book “Why Not the Best?” Carter wrote, “My father...was an excellent tennis player...I could never beat my father. He had a wicked sliced ball which barely bounded at all on the relatively soft dirt court.”
Earl Carter was a successful farmer who raised cotton, corn and sugar cane with the help of tenant farmers. He was one of the first farmers in the area to try growing peanuts a crop that would later become very important to the economy of Plains. Earl also had a general store on his property where he sold canned goods, coffee, kerosene, overalls and a variety of other items. The store is one of the restored buildings on the property. Inside the store visitors can listen to a recorded message by Jimmy Carter as he describes what it was like having the store so close to his home. He said his supper was often interrupted by a customer and being the oldest boy in the family he was usually chosen to be the one to serve the customer only to return to a cold plate at the table.
After his father began growing peanuts on the farm Jimmy would sell bags of boiled peanuts on the streets of Plains for a nickel. Carter said his parents taught him and his siblings to work hard, value education, be a part of the community, be active in the church and love and respect one another.
The high school in Plains where Jimmy spent his formative years is now a museum dedicated to his life. Carter graduated after the 11th grade since there was no 12th grade at the school. When he graduated in 1941 he was salutatorian with the second highest grades in his class. In what was once the school auditorium visitors can view a film about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and their years in the Georgia governor’s mansion and White House. Also in the high school is a restored classroom and principal’s office along with a visitor’s center and gift shop. For those wanting a brief feeling of what it must be like to sit at the president’s desk in the White House there is a preproduction of the oval office where visitors can have their photo taken.
