Plains, GA

Plains is a small Sumter County city in southwest Georgia whose name is now inseparable from Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Before the Carters made it a national reference point, the area held several settlements - Lebanon, Magnolia Springs, and Plains of Dura - that came together after the railroad reached the area in 1885. Farming, church, and school shaped the local world that produced the 39th president, and the town's circular boundary still sits roughly 120 miles south of Atlanta in the southwest Georgia farm belt.

ATTRBubba73 (talk) , Jud McCranie / CC BY-SA 3.0

Jimmy Carter National Historical Park gathers the town's defining places into a compact local map. Plains High School serves as the visitor center, the old train depot was Carter's 1976 campaign headquarters, and Carter Gardens include the couple's final resting place. The Carter boyhood farm is in nearby Archery, while the city center holds the school, depot, former campaign and family-business sites that tie national politics back to a very small town. Plains remains a rural place organized around farming, church, and school, with a presidential history embedded in the same streets.