Even though I had an uncomfortable night due to the surgical tape wrapped around my upper body, I knew my photographer and his wife slept well as the two of them hardly moved a muscle until Tom’s alarm rang at 6:30am on Monday April 22, 2024. Once my camera guy had himself ready to go, he carefully removed the tape from my right arm – thankfully, I was good as new. Although I probably couldn’t throw a baseball as hard as a Justin Verlander bobble head, I was back to as normal as I get after nearly 75,000 miles of travel under my belt.
I was anxious to get on the road and out of the state of Alabama altogether because I knew the first and only stop of the day would be in Plains, Georgia; and that’s the hometown of our 39th President Jimmy Carter. It’s been nearly five years since my first visit to Carter’s hometown and I was giddy to get back. Even though I heard Tom tell his wife we wouldn’t meet the President like we had in 2019, primarily because Jimmy is 99 years old and has been in hospice care at his home for the past year, my photographer promised he had a few additional sites up his sleeve – sites we’ve never seen before. The icing on the cake, at least for me, was the moment when Tom said he had once again reserved the Presidential Suite at the Plains Historic Inn. Not only did Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter help renovate the Inn, but they also once stayed in that very room as well. There aren’t many places where I can pose on a bed where a President and First Lady once slept, and – well, use your imagination.
At 8:40am, we headed out of town, albeit at a later-than-usual time. It was obvious my two companions were dragging butt that morning, and that was likely due to the exhausting day we had at the racetrack. According to Tom’s original itinerary, he planned on us spending the night near the Alabama-Georgia border and he figured we’d be in Plains by nine o’clock. However, when he and his wife decided to stay closer to the track, which ended up being a brilliant idea on Vicki’s part, my photographer’s original plans went out the window.
Instead of a 53-mile drive to start the day, we had 200 miles of roadway ahead of us – which meant we not only had three-and-a-half hours of boring highways and back roads to look forward to, but we also lost another hour when we entered the Eastern Time Zone at the Alabama-Georgia border.
When we arrived at our first destination, which was the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm, the clock on the Jeep’s dashboard read 1:30 in the afternoon. But we had made it – made it to the farm near the tiny community of Archery, Georgia where Carter grew up. The Carter farmhouse was located just over two miles west of downtown Plains where the President currently resides. Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, he grew up in Plains, he lives in Plains, and he will likely die in Plains. But with no regrets.
We were over four hours behind schedule, and with over fifteen sites associated with our 39th President on our docket, I was concerned we’d be forced to rush through the sites in an effort to get back on track. But just as Vicki parked the Jeep at the entrance to the Carter Farm, I heard my photographer tell his wife there had been a change in plans. Instead of the three of us attending the Detroit Tigers baseball game in Tampa, Florida the following evening, he was pulling the plug on that idea. Instead, Tom said we’d spend Tuesday morning in Plains before heading south to Florida. “That way”, as he put it, “we can take it slow and thoroughly enjoy our time in Plains. I love this small town – Jimmy Carter is one of my favorite Presidents and I want us to be absorbed in the small-town ambiance Jimmy has loved for the entire ninety-nine years of his life.”
The weather was ideal; the temperature was in the upper 70s and the bright blue sky was broken only by sporadic white, puffy clouds. It seemed like Heaven-on-Earth, which in my mind, was a symbolic salute to Rosalynn Carter who passed away on November 19, 2023. Following the First Lady’s death, she was laid to rest at the Carter homestead located on Woodland Drive in downtown Plains.
For over five hours, Tom, Vicki, and I put on our overhauls and walked in the footsteps of the most famous peanut farmer in United States history. But instead of me rambling on anymore, I’ll let my photographer’s pictures tell the story of our visit. Welcome to the world of President Jimmy Carter.
As the three of us headed for the Carter farmhouse in the distance, Tom set me down on a section of sidewalk where President Carter placed his hands and wrote his name in the wet cement on September 24, 2010. My first tour of the farm was on July 13, 2019 – nearly nine years after Carter’s visit.
Behind the farmhouse, where I’m standing in this image, was where the Carter’s kept their chickens, ducks, Guinea hens, and geese. As a child living on the farm, the future President had his daily chores to complete. Jimmy’s father, Earl Carter, expected every member of the family to do their fair share of the work.
During our time on the farm, the sound of crowing from this rooster was heard everywhere we went.
Earl Carter moved his family into this house in 1928 when Jimmy was only four years old. I’m standing on the spot where the President was photographed during one of his visits.
In one of his books, President Jimmy Carter talked about his life, down on the farm. “The front door was locked when we got there, and daddy realized that he had forgotten the key. He tried to raise one of the windows that opened onto the front porch, but a wooden bar on the inside let it come up only about six inches. So, he slid me through the crack, and I came around to unlock the door from the inside. The approval of my father for my first useful act has always been one of my most vivid memories.“
This three-bedroom home served as the Carter’s home until 1949 when Earl sold the house and farmland. Jimmy lived there until 1941 when he left to attend college.
From my position near the front steps of the home, I could see the country store in the distance. That small store was run by Earl Carter and was a staple in the Archery community during the Depression.
I spent a few minutes relaxing on the porch swing before Tom and I toured the interior of the home. Let’s go inside, shall we, and visit the home where Jimmy Carter grew up.
The first room I saw was the kitchen, where Jimmy’s mother, Lillian, prepared her family’s meals. Most of their food was produced in the Carter’s fields, garden, pasture, and yard.
Although the bed I’m standing on was a period antique, it was situated in Jimmy Carter’s bedroom at the farmhouse and represented the one where the President slept. It was in this room where the young boy kept many of his treasures – including letters, postcards, and souvenirs sent to him by his Uncle Tom Gordy, who was in the Navy.
In 1975, President Carter said of his youth growing up in this house, “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.”
During the time I posed on the bed, I saw a pair of symbolic jeans standing by the dresser. Those stiff jeans represented the ones young Carter wore when he performed his most-hated chore on the farm – which was mopping cotton. A mixture of arsenic, molasses, and water was put in a bucket and mopped onto the cotton plants to kill boll weevils. Carter said his trousers, legs, and bare feet would become saturated with the syrupy mess. Flies swarmed around him, and at night he took off his trousers and stood them in the corner because they were so stiff.
The dining room of the house was used for formal meals, including Sunday dinners, holidays, and when they had company. Occasionally, the Carter’s entertained guests and the table was pushed back to allow room for dancing.
The Carter family ate most of their meals in this less formal eating area, which they called the Breakfast Room. Lillian Carter encouraged her children to read, even at meals – so it was commonplace to see the Carter children engrossed in books and magazines while seated at the table.
I’m standing in Earl and Lillian Carter’s bedroom, which was the warmest room in the house during the winter months. Billy Carter, who was born in 1937, was the youngest of the children and stayed in this room until Jimmy left for college in 1941.
During the evenings, the family gathered around the battery-powered radio following the evening meal as they listened to their favorite programs, news, and sporting events.
Earl Carter prepared his Sunday school lesson and read the newspaper by oil lamp. When he got out of his favorite chair, the children were quick to check his chair for change that might have slipped out of their father’s pockets.
Jimmy’s two sisters, Gloria and Ruth, shared this bedroom. At times, the girls would slip out the front window and sit on the front porch to talk.
I love visiting Presidential bathrooms, and getting an indoor bathroom was a big event in the Carter family. No one complained about bathing in the cold shower with the water coming directly from the tank on the windmill. There was a unique showerhead – a bucket with holes in the bottom! An even greater blessing, according to Jimmy, was not having to walk outside and across the yard to go to the outhouse.
Following our time inside the farmhouse, Tom carried me to the small country store ran by Earl Carter, which was located just a short distance from the home. The store was an important part of the farm, as well as the Archery community – food items, household goods, and clothing items were sold here. It was too far to travel three miles to Plains during the week, so the people who lived around the Carter’s farm would buy their “goods” there.
Farm workers and neighbors could buy their goods on credit and settle their bill on payday, which was Saturday. When he wasn’t doing his chores or attending school, Jimmy stocked the shelves, helped keep the store clean, and ran the cash register.
In his store, Earl sold canned goods, coffee, lamp wicks, kerosene, soap, lard, tobacco, overalls, shoes, flour, sugar, cornmeal, castor oil, and homemade syrup. Jimmy’s dad also sold hams, pork shoulders, and sausage which had cured in the smokehouse.
This clay tennis court, which was located between the store and farmhouse, was where the Carter’s honed their competitive spirit they were known for.
Lebanon Cemetery, which was located about a half-mile east of Carter’s boyhood farm, was where Jimmy’s parents and brother were laid to rest following their deaths. The cemetery dates back to the 1850s and is one of only five cemeteries in the country where the parents of both a U.S. President and First Lady are buried.
This is the plot where Earl and Lillian Carter, Jimmy’s parents, were buried. The marble stone in the foreground marked the grave of Billy Carter, who passed away September 25, 1988 at the age of 51.
I’m standing on the tombstone which marked the final resting place of Lillian Carter, the President’s mother. Lillian died on October 30, 1983 at the age of 85. The grave to my immediate right was where Earl Carter was buried following his death on July 22, 1953. The President’s dad was 58 years old when he passed away.
My photographer and I discovered another Carter family plot in Lebanon Cemetery. I’m posing on the spot where President Jimmy Carter stood while visiting the grave of his paternal grandfather, William Archibald Carter.
Shortly after leaving the White House in January 1981, President Carter and his family returned to Plains. In this image, Jimmy and daughter Amy were photographed as they visited the gravesite of the President’s grandfather. The larger monument just behind the President was where his father was buried.
The next stop on our Jimmy Carter tour was at the historic Rylander House, which was located a quarter mile east of Lebanon Cemetery. The first thing we saw was the ‘Private Property’ sign posted on the fence in front of the house. Luckily, at least for Tom and me, the fence didn’t surround the property.
The Rylander House was built by enslaved people in the 1850s for owner Matthew Rylander. As children, both Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Smith believed the home was haunted and they avoided walking in front of it at all costs.
However, as Carter was entering public service as a member of the County Board of Education, Jimmy and Rosalynn moved into the haunted house. The Carter’s rented this house together from 1956 to 1961.
The Methodist Church behind me, built in Plains in 1910, was where Ensign Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Smith were united in holy matrimony on July 7, 1946.
Following the marriage ceremony between the 21-year-old Carter and Rosalynn Smith, who was 18, the newlyweds drove to Norfolk, Virginia for Carter’s first tour of duty.
Rosalynn Smith attended this Methodist church as a child with her family. Rosalynn’s father, Wilburn Edgar Smith, died in 1940 when the future First Lady was only 13 years old. His funeral service was likely conducted in this church.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were photographed on their wedding day, July 7, 1946. The couple, who had both attended Plains High School, met through a mutual friend when Jimmy Carter was serving in the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
On their first date in 1945, Jimmy kissed Rosalynn in the backseat of his sister Ruth’s car. A year later, the loving couple were married near the altar behind me.
In an effort for me to stand in the footsteps of President Jimmy Carter, Tom set me down on the sidewalk in front of Sandra Walter’s home, located along West Church Street. Sandra was an extraordinary friendly woman and was seated on her porch during our visit.
On Saturday August 4, 2018, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were followed by Secret Service agents as they walked in front of the Walter’s home. The Carter’s were returning to their home following dinner at a nearby friend’s house.
After meeting Sandra Walters, the lifelong Plains native told us about a trail where we might get a view of the Carter’s home. Although the trees were too full of leaves to get a glimpse of the home, we did get a great look at the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.
From our position on the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail, my photographer and I tried to catch a glimpse of Jimmy Carter’s home without being assaulted by the Secret Service. As you can see, the foliage made it impossible to see the home – which was somewhere behind me and behind the trees.
The Plains Baptist Church behind me was constructed in 1906 and was where Earl Carter and his family worshipped. At age 11, the future President was baptized in this church.
As an adult, President Jimmy Carter was a deacon in the Plains Baptist Church and taught Sunday school there. But when a Black reverend’s request to join the church was denied in the late 1970s, Carter and 28 other church members left the congregation and built a new Baptist Church just outside of town.
When my photographer discovered the doors to the historic church were locked, he had me pose on the brick steps in front of the building instead.
The original Baptist Church in Plains was known as Lebanon Baptist and was built in 1848 in the middle of the present-day Lebanon Cemetery. Services during that time were held monthly for Whites and Slaves. The beautiful place of worship behind me was the fourth Baptist Church in Plains, and the second to be constructed on that site.
I’m standing across East Church Street from the gas station once owned by Billy Carter, the President’s brother. Carter bought the service station in 1972 from Mill Jennings, who had the building moved in 1954 to the site where the Plains Hotel once stood.
In 1976, Billy’s service station became famous nationwide as journalists covering Jimmy Carter’s Presidential campaign made it their headquarters.
On September 10, 1976, Jimmy Carter made a campaign stop at his brother’s service station in Plains.
Billy Carter sold the service station to his son-in-law in 1981. By 2008, the building was opened as the Billy Carter Museum by the Plains Better Hometown program. Unfortunately, on that Monday evening during our visit, the museum had already closed for the day.
I’m posing for a photo while standing on one of the gas pumps at the Billy Carter service station. Behind me, in the distance, is the Plains Historic Inn where my companions and I were spending the night.
Behind me is the Plains Historic Inn and Antiques and was where we had reservations to spend the night. Although the Historic Inn first opened in 1901 as the Oliver-McDonald store, it was transformed into a furniture store and funeral home in the 1920s.
President Jimmy Carter was all smiles as he greeted the public after his October 11, 2002 news conference where he discussed his Nobel Peace Prize.
Not only did Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter help renovate the Historic Inn, but it also seemed as though I could see the couple standing on the balcony from my position in front of the building.
The former President and First Lady watched the annual Peanut Festival from the balcony of the Plains Historic Inn.
Roughly an hour after the antique shop closed for the day, I took advantage of the peaceful tranquility of Plains, Georgia.
All the stores had closed, and the sidewalks had rolled up for the evening in Plains – and that was just fine with me.
Before we headed to Americus, Georgia for dinner, I took a ten-minute power nap in our 1970s suite on the second floor of the Plains Historic Inn. It’s a known fact that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter not only spent time in this room, but they also spent the night in this bed.
I love standing in the butt prints of the Presidents, and that’s exactly what I did in this image as Jimmy Carter once sat where I’m posing.
Jimmy Carter was photographed as he sat on the couch in the 1970s suite.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were also photographed together as they stood just about where I’m posing in this image. I took a moment and paid a personal silent tribute to the former First Lady who had passed away on November 19, 2023 at the age of 96.
This photo was likely taken shortly after the renovation of the Historic Inn was completed in 2002. We were told by the staff that Rosalynn had personally helped select the furnishings for the suites.
The community area of the Historic Inn was where guests could eat, relax together, or spend time on the balcony. Unfortunately for us, the door to the balcony was locked and we couldn’t gain access to it.
But on September 23, 2017, the Carters had access to the balcony where they helped celebrate the 21st annual Plains Peanut Festival.
Our afternoon in Plains couldn’t have gone any better, and I was excited to visit the remaining Carter sites on Tuesday morning. Perhaps the day’s unexpected diamond in the rough, which we have grown accustomed to on our trips was our unplanned visit with Sandra Walters, the Plains native who owned the house I posed in front of. For nearly fifteen minutes, my photographer and I listened as Sandra sat in her porch rocker and spun tales about her interactions with the Carters, who Walters proudly claimed were her neighbors. Our newfound acquaintance also mentioned the last time she saw Rosalynn, which was only a month or so before she passed away on November 19, 2023. Walters said she watched from her porch as the First Lady, aided by the use of her walker, slowly circled the entire block before returning to the Presidential homestead on nearby Woodland Drive. What I enjoyed the most was hearing Sandra’s pronounced accent as I listened to her talk about Rosalynn and Jimmy, as well as her own life’s story growing up in Plains.
At roughly 6:30pm, the three of us headed to the nearby town of Americus in search of a place to have dinner. I knew Tom would’ve preferred to have stayed in Plains, but when the town’s sidewalks rolled up at the stroke of five o’clock, we were forced to drive ten miles east to find food.
And what a find it turned out to be! After a short search for dining places in Americus, Tom and Vic decided to explore the fine cuisine at a place called ‘The 1800 Mexican Restaurant’. I watched in disgust as my photographer inhaled his three tacos within a matter of a few minutes, then I saw the ever-hungry fat man help his wife polish-off her steak fajita.
It was dark outside when we made it back to our room at the Plains Historic Inn. The entire place was eerily quiet while we rode the elevator to the second floor. It turned out we were the only guests spending the night, even though there were seven beautifully decorated suites, each priced at a very reasonable rate. The seven rooms above the antique store featured the motif of a particular decade, beginning in the 1920s when the President was born in Plains, through the 1980s when Jimmy Carter left office. Our particular room, which was where we also spent the night in 2019, featured furnishings from the 1970s – the decade Carter was elected President. That room is also known as The Presidential Suite.
Before we turned-in for the night, Tom and I sat on the same couch once used by Jimmy Carter and we watched the last part of the Atlanta Braves baseball game. Neither of us have ever been Braves fans, but we knew Carter loved that team, so that turned my photographer and me into fans for one night.
My photographer extinguished the lights in the room at 9:30pm and he climbed up onto the unusually high bed. I spent the night standing on the small table situated next to the ‘Carter couch’ where I was left alone with my thoughts. For the first hour or so, I envisioned the 39th President as he flashed his toothy grin in his hometown.
Suddenly, my giddier-than-usual thoughts turned macabre when it dawned on me the Historic Inn was once used as a funeral home in the 1920s. Caskets were once hauled to the second floor and back down again via the same elevator we had used. Bodies were likely embalmed somewhere on that floor as well; and the ambiance of death began to close in on me. Then it happened – it was roughly three o’clock in the morning when the deafening silence in the room was broken by the sounds of creaking wood. Footsteps in the darkness of night; the wooden floorboards in our room were being stressed under the weight of absolutely no one.
Was it my imagination? Or was there a visitor from the past who came to visit me – taking one step at a time? Creak. Creak. Creak. Then silence.
** This post is dedicated to Sandra Walters, who, with her friendly personality and small-town hospitality, made our visit to Plains all the more special. **
My name is Thomas Watson and I've been a U.S. history fanatic since I was 9 years old. In 2013, I decided to take my passion to the next level when I purchased a Thomas Jefferson bobble head with the sole intention of photographing that bobble head at Presidential sites. From that first day on July 10, 2013 at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio, this journey has taken on a life of its own. Now, nearly 40,000 miles later, I thought it was time to share the experiences, stories, and photos of Jefferson's travels. Keep in mind, this entire venture has been done with the deepest respect for the men who held the office as our President; no matter what their political affiliations, personal ambitions, or public scandals may have been. This blog is intended to be a true tribute to the Presidents of the United States and this story will be told Through the Eyes of Jefferson. I hope you enjoy the ride!
