Plains is a town of about 600 people in southwest Georgia, surrounded by peanut fields and pine. It would be entirely unremarkable except that it produced a President of the United States, who lived here before, during, and for forty-four years after his term in office. Jimmy Carter was born in Plains in 1924, ran his peanut farm here, was elected governor of Georgia and then president from here, and returned here in 1981 to teach Sunday school at the Maranatha Baptist Church until his death in 2024. Rosalynn Carter, who grew up next door, died in 2023. They are buried together at the family home.
Almost everything worth seeing in Plains is part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, and almost all of it is within walking distance of the one-block downtown. The old Plains High School — where both Carters were educated — is now the visitor centre, with exhibits on their early lives, the 1976 campaign, and the post-presidency. The Plains Train Depot, a small 1888 wooden building, served as the 1976 campaign headquarters and looks much as it did then. The Carter Boyhood Farm is a few miles west in Archery, restored to its 1930s appearance with the farmhouse, barn, and outbuildings.
The town itself is honest and unpolished. A handful of antique stores, a peanut-themed gift shop, a tiny historic district, and the Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue — a 13-foot grinning peanut originally built for a 1976 campaign rally in Indiana — make up most of the rest. The Maranatha Baptist Church on the edge of town still holds Sunday services, and until shortly before his death Jimmy Carter taught the Bible class himself; people came from around the world to attend.
Plains is best seen as a half-day stop, ideally combined with Andersonville or used as a side trip from Americus 10 miles east. There are no hotels in town, only a small bed-and-breakfast or two; most visitors stay in Americus. What makes it worth the detour is not architecture or scenery but the chance to walk through a place that quietly produced one of the most consequential American lives of the 20th century.