Plains in Sumter County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)
Jimmy Carter Slept Here
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, June 19, 2012
1. Jimmy Carter Slept Here Marker
Our lives then were centered almost completely around our own family and our own home…
Jimmy Carter, 1975, Why Not the Best?
This is the homeplace- "hot in the summer and cold in the winter"- of a Georgia farmboy who would someday sleep in the White House. Here young Jimmy Carter ran, dodging dogs, chickens, geese, and guinea fowl. The yard was swept with sand, weeded clean to keep snakes and bugs away from the house. Behind you, a woodpile stacked high with hickory,oak, and pine for the fireplace and kitchen stoves took up much of the back yard. A chinaberry tree near the house held a treehouse where Jimmy played. As you step onto the back porch, listen for the echoes of his father, "Mr. Earl" Carter, hurrying out on some farm business, and his mother, "Miss Lillian," banging the screen door on her way to help someone with her nursing skills. You'd have found the back door unlocked.
[Caption:]
Jimmy (far left) and his sisters poses with two friends and Annie Mae Hollis, who often kept the Carter children.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Agriculture.
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Location. 32° 1.601′ N, 84° 26.012′ W. Marker is in Plains, Georgia, in Sumter County. Marker can be reached from Old Plains Highway, on the right when traveling west. Marker is located in Plains, Georgia on Carter Boy Hood Farm Jimmy Carter National Historic Site United States Department of Interior. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Plains GA 31780, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Always a Reckoning (here, next to this marker); Jimmy Carter's Boyhood Farm / From Here To Plains (within shouting distance of this marker); Winds of Change (within shouting distance of this marker); The Earl and Lillian Carter Home (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Carter Family Garden (about 300 feet away); Tennis Court (about 300 feet away); Legacy of an Outdoor Childhood (about 400 feet away); Never Far from Home (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Plains.
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, June 19, 2012
2. Back side of house
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, June 19, 2012
3. Jimmy Carter 's bedroom
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, June 19, 2012
4. Woodpile, broom chicken house and pen
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, June 19, 2012
5. Jimmy Carter Slept Here Marker and backyard
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, August 9, 2015
6. Jimmy Carter
This 1980 portrait of Jimmy Carter by Robert Templeton hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
“In the early stages of the 1976 presidential campaign, the experts hardly gave a second thought to Jimmy Carter's chances of winning the Democratic nomination, much less the White House. But the former Georgia governor's ‘can-do,’ Washington outsider's image, along with his traditional populism, had great voter appeal, and in the final poll he emerged triumphant. Unfortunately, Carter did not prove as popular in the presidency as he had on the stump, being blamed for problems such as runaway inflation. Nevertheless, his administration had some unalloyed successes, including a landmark peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which would probably never have been reached without Carter's own dogged determination to make it happen.
Artist Robert Templeton made the first sketches for this portrait at the White House in 1978. In the picture, Carter stands in the Oval Office, which is furnished as it had been during his administration. The donkey statuette on his desk was a gift from the Democratic National Committee.”
“In the early stages of the 1976 presidential campaign, the experts hardly gave a second thought to Jimmy Carter's chances of winning the Democratic nomination, much less the White House. But the former Georgia governor's ‘can-do,’ Washington outsider's image, along with his traditional populism, had great voter appeal, and in the final poll he emerged triumphant. Unfortunately, Carter did not prove as popular in the presidency as he had on the stump, being blamed for problems such as runaway inflation. Nevertheless, his administration had some unalloyed successes, including a landmark peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which would probably never have been reached without Carter's own dogged determination to make it happen.
Artist Robert Templeton made the first sketches for this portrait at the White House in 1978. In the picture, Carter stands in the Oval Office, which is furnished as it had been during his administration. The donkey statuette on his desk was a gift from the Democratic National Committee.”
Credits. This page was last revised on April 16, 2021. It was originally submitted on June 25, 2012, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 491 times since then and 16 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on June 25, 2012, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. 6. submitted on February 11, 2019, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.
