Georgia - Jimmy Carter and Andersonville National Historic Sites

When I was in grade school, Jimmy Carter was the President. He is probably the first President I remember, and what I remember most was that he was a peanut farmer, and his brother Billy was kind of a nut. Since starting my quest to see National Park Service properties wherever I can, I have been wanting to stop by Plains Georgia, to see the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. In January 2021, in the middle of a COVID winter, I decided to take a solo trip to Florida and do my work-from-home work at an Airbnb. So, with all that in mind, as I was driving down to Florida alone, I veered off Hwy 75, and made my way through rural Georgia to Plains.

Along the way, I kept seeing these weird hay bales that were wrapped in pink and white on the edges. Being from the upper Midwest, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that these were NOT hay bales, they were COTTON bales. A little later down the road, I saw large trees in groves, and realized they were Pecan trees. It was cool to see the different crops in this part of the country.

Before getting to Plains, I stopped at the nearby Andersonville National Historic Site. It was closed due to COVID, but I did walk around. From the NPS website:

The Camp Sumter military prison at Andersonville was one of the largest Confederate military prisons during the Civil War. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Of these, almost 13,000 died here. Today, Andersonville National Historic Site is a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout the nation's history.

I walked into the cemetery area, where there are monuments from each of the states that had soldiers die at Andersonville. The Wisconsin monument was by far the largest. ☹

I headed back on the road towards Plains. When I got there, I was instantly struck by how small it is!! It is almost literally a crossroads. I went to the old high school, which has been turned into the Visitor Center, but it was closed. I read about how Jimmy and his wife Roslyn met there back in the day. Then, I headed down the road to see the Carter home. Jimmy and Roslyn live there now, and it is set way back on a large plot of land. At the road, there is a building that houses the Secret Service detail that protects the Carters. I drove past a total of 3 times. I’m sure I’m now on some CIA list somewhere. The highlight was that I saw an older person (Jimmy? Roslyn??), walking down the driveway with a walker, accompanied by someone, and being followed very slowly by a big black car. It had to be one of them, but they were a bit too far away for me to ID which one.

After my brush with the President, I headed “downtown” – which is one block long, about a half mile away from the Carters, and consists of a street with buildings on only one side. I think it is just one building, but with about 4 businesses in it. I went in and bought a peanut Christmas tree ornament!

There was an old rail depot across the street from the downtown building, and the signs indicated that it had been the campaign headquarters for Carter during his Presidential campaign. It said that this building was selected because it was the only empty building in town with a bathroom!

It was fun seeing Plains and seeing how the entire town is seemingly dedicated to the Carters and the Carter Family (Billy Carter’s gas station is near the depot). I’m glad I took the detour!