Plains Georgia: President Jimmy Carter Country
Americus, Georgia's welcome center is housed in the Windsor Hotel, built in 1892, a five-story hotel of one hundred rooms with a three-story atrium lobby of polished oak. Besides information, the welcome center gives free samples of locally grown peanuts.
A few blocks away is the headquarters of Habitat for Humanity; the organization which helps to build houses for people throughout the world. Jimmy Carter literally works hand in hand with this organization. He has helped to erect houses around the world and has become a master carpenter.
Americus, Georgia is also the place where Charles Lindbergh took his first solo flight. A memorial statue stands at Souther Field Airport, just north of the city.
Less than fifteen miles west of Americus is Plains, GA, home of Jimmy and Roselyn Carter. Situated in the old Plains High School, from where both Carters are graduates, is the Carter museum. This is truly an inspirational place, depicting how the Carters obtained their values and the achievements done because of them. Maligned by the cynical media and his opponents during his presidency, Jimmy Carter's faith and values were in evidence during the Camp David Peace Talks and the release of the Iranian hostages. The National Park Service is in the process of adding more exhibits for the Nobel Laureate.
The Carters still live in a modest home on two acres, which fronts on route 27. There are more lavish houses available in Plains, but they choose to live there. The Secret Service has the property under constant surveillance. Also of note in town are Maranatha Baptist Church, where Jimmy is a deacon, Billy's Service Station (Jimmy's brother, now deceased), and Carter's boyhood farm, just outside of town.
In Lumpkin, another thirty miles further west, is Westville Village, a working 1850s town in Georgia. Docents give demonstrations of country living during this era. We stopped by, but did not visit. A few busloads of children were just arriving. We will come back to this area again and then visit the museum, because it looked very interesting from the parking lot.
On the Main Square is the Bedingfield Inn, erected in 1836 as a stagecoach stop. Also in town is the oldest hardware store, Singers. This was closed at the time.
Our next stop was Providence Canyon State Park (The Grand Canyon of Georgia). This was the reason why we traveled such a long distance. Once again we only spent a short time, about one and a half hour here. The canyons, formed by poor farming practices in the 1800s are over 150 feet in depth and four hundred yards in width. Once the water eroded the iron infused Georgia red clay, it was quick to do its bidding on the soft sand stone below. There are two main trails in the park: one is three miles and the other is seven miles in length. The interpretive center has a short slide presentation of the history of the canyon. This is a place we want to return to some day
.
Our next stop was to be Andersonville, the Confederate Military prison. But we missed our turnoff and ended up in Fort Benning, "The Best Military Installation in the World". From what we saw of the base, they fulfill their accolade. But then too, we were not there for training with our faces on the ground, but to visit the museum of the infantry. The building is three stories tall and traces the development of the infantry from the middle ages, through the Revolutionary, Civil and World Wars. There are artifacts and memorabilia from all the encounters, including the most recent one in Afghanistan. We spent two hours there. We could have easily spent another two hours at the museum, plus additional time seeing the rest of the base.
While on the way home (it is dark by now) we stopped at Yoder's Country Market, a Mennonite store. We picked up some cheese and delicious sausages.
A few blocks away is the headquarters of Habitat for Humanity; the organization which helps to build houses for people throughout the world. Jimmy Carter literally works hand in hand with this organization. He has helped to erect houses around the world and has become a master carpenter.
Americus, Georgia is also the place where Charles Lindbergh took his first solo flight. A memorial statue stands at Souther Field Airport, just north of the city.
Less than fifteen miles west of Americus is Plains, GA, home of Jimmy and Roselyn Carter. Situated in the old Plains High School, from where both Carters are graduates, is the Carter museum. This is truly an inspirational place, depicting how the Carters obtained their values and the achievements done because of them. Maligned by the cynical media and his opponents during his presidency, Jimmy Carter's faith and values were in evidence during the Camp David Peace Talks and the release of the Iranian hostages. The National Park Service is in the process of adding more exhibits for the Nobel Laureate.
The Carters still live in a modest home on two acres, which fronts on route 27. There are more lavish houses available in Plains, but they choose to live there. The Secret Service has the property under constant surveillance. Also of note in town are Maranatha Baptist Church, where Jimmy is a deacon, Billy's Service Station (Jimmy's brother, now deceased), and Carter's boyhood farm, just outside of town.
In Lumpkin, another thirty miles further west, is Westville Village, a working 1850s town in Georgia. Docents give demonstrations of country living during this era. We stopped by, but did not visit. A few busloads of children were just arriving. We will come back to this area again and then visit the museum, because it looked very interesting from the parking lot.
On the Main Square is the Bedingfield Inn, erected in 1836 as a stagecoach stop. Also in town is the oldest hardware store, Singers. This was closed at the time.
Our next stop was Providence Canyon State Park (The Grand Canyon of Georgia). This was the reason why we traveled such a long distance. Once again we only spent a short time, about one and a half hour here. The canyons, formed by poor farming practices in the 1800s are over 150 feet in depth and four hundred yards in width. Once the water eroded the iron infused Georgia red clay, it was quick to do its bidding on the soft sand stone below. There are two main trails in the park: one is three miles and the other is seven miles in length. The interpretive center has a short slide presentation of the history of the canyon. This is a place we want to return to some day
.
Our next stop was to be Andersonville, the Confederate Military prison. But we missed our turnoff and ended up in Fort Benning, "The Best Military Installation in the World". From what we saw of the base, they fulfill their accolade. But then too, we were not there for training with our faces on the ground, but to visit the museum of the infantry. The building is three stories tall and traces the development of the infantry from the middle ages, through the Revolutionary, Civil and World Wars. There are artifacts and memorabilia from all the encounters, including the most recent one in Afghanistan. We spent two hours there. We could have easily spent another two hours at the museum, plus additional time seeing the rest of the base.
While on the way home (it is dark by now) we stopped at Yoder's Country Market, a Mennonite store. We picked up some cheese and delicious sausages.
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