February 24, 2022 - Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm,
Plains, Georgia

Southwest of Americus is Plains, Georgia, famous as the place where President Jimmy Carter grew up.  His boyhood farm has been preserved, and the town of Plains seems pretty much the same as it was back then.  (The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum is not here, it is in Atlanta.)

I thought I knew a lot about Jimmy Carter:  went to the Naval Academy, nuclear submariner, got out and went into politics, elected as governor of Georgia, ran for President against Gerald Ford and won, did not have a successful Presidency and was not elected for a second term, losing to the Ronald Reagan.

But I had no idea that he came from such meager and spartan beginnings, a small town in the middle of nowhere.  Contrast Carter to say, JFK.

This is the walkway leading to the Carter farmhouse.
   
Earl Carter moved his family to this farm -- three miles west of Plains -- in 1928 when Jimmy Carter was four years old.   No indoor plumbing in the early days.
   
Jimmy Carter's bedroom.  His mother Lillian installed a love of reading in her children.  Kids spent most of their time outdoors.
   
The Living Room.
   
The house basically was the hallway with rooms on each side.
   
Earl and Lillian's bedroom, the only place where the Carter's tried to keep a fire going full-time in wintertime.   All heating was by fireplace and wood stove.    Initially there was no running water and no electricity was available until 1938.
   
The kitchen.  Yep, this is it.  Where's the microwave, the refrigerator, the island?
   
The back porch.
   
This was a farm.  I believe those are pecan trees, and some beehives are visible as well.
   
Amazingly, the Carters had a clay tennis court.  Jimmy and his Dad Earl liked to play. 
   

The Carters had tenant farmers on their land.  They ran a store in this building where tenants could buy supplies from the Carters.

There were three classes of tenants:  cash-tenants, share-tenants, and sharecroppers.
   
Inside the store.
   
The blacksmith shop filled with forge and anvil, drill press and emery wheel.  All were used daily to repair farm tools and sometimes make them.
   
Looking across the farm at the house.  Notice the windmill in the distance at center.  The Carters purchased it from a catalog in 1935 for $100.  It provided the Carters a welcome reprieve from the drudgery of pumping water for both the family and livestock by hand.  Windpower drew water from a deep well and raised it to the wooden tank on the tower.  Pressure from that tank made it possible, for the first time, to have running water inside the house, supplying new conveniences of lavatory, commode, and a cold shower.
   
Driving the three miles back to Plains, we passed the Carter compound on the left, where the Carters have lived since 1981.  I'm guessing those people behind the gate are President Carter and his wife Rosslyn, out for a walk with their secret service entourage.  Jimmy Carter is 97 years old.
   
This is it:  Plains, Georgia.  Main Street.
   
 
   
We tried out some peanut butter ice cream; it was pretty good!
   
The Old Carter Peanut Warehouse.
   
 
   
This railroad station was used for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign headquarters.  One of the reasons it was selected was that it had a bathroom.
   
Inside was a small museum about the Carter campaign.
   
 
   
This is where Jimmy Carter attended high school; it is now a museum run by the National Park Service.  Closed of course.
   
Passing through cotton fields in Georgia as we head for Maryland.  And with that, our Florida vacation was at an end.
   
 
   
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