Tag Archives: Jimmy Carter

-Georgia, Houses

Rosalynn Smith Carter’s Childhood Home in Plains, Georgia

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Located just off downtown Plains is the home Rosalynn Smith Carter’s (1927-2023) childhood home. She lived here with her parents, Wilburn and Allie Smith, her brothers, Jerry and Murray, and her sister, Allethea. Her family moved into the home when she was a toddler.

The modest Queen Anne home, built in 1910, contributes to the historic district.

Below are photos of the home from the Library of Congress’s Historic American Buildings survey.

(side note: I just happen to be driving through Plains about an hour before it was announced that President Carter had passed away.)

-Georgia, Famous People, National Register of Historic Places, Signs, Stores

Billy Carter’s Service Station in Plains, Georgia

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Billy Carter (1937-1988) purchased the gas station in 1972. It became the town gathering place during Jimmy Carter’s campaigns. At its busiest, the service station sold more than 40,000 gallons of gas. Billy owned it for more than a decade. In 2008, the station was restored and reopened as The Billy Carter Museum.

This image is from the Library of Congress’s Historic American Buildings Survey.
-Georgia, Houses, National Register of Historic Places

Jimmy Carter’s Home in Public Housing-Plains, Georgia

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When Jimmy Carter left the Navy in 1953, he and Rosalynn Carter returned to live in Plains. Since they had no guaranteed income, they applied to live in public housing. Located at the corner of Paschal and Thomas Streets, they lived in public housing Unit 9A for the first year.

-Georgia, Black History

The Community of Archery, Georgia

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Founded in 1913, Archery sits on the Webster and Sumter county lines, not far from Plains, Georgia. A historic Black community, it was named for the Sublime Order of Archery, an AME Church relief fund that helped Black families. Bishop William Decker Johnson, Supreme Archer and organizer of the order, moved to the area to start a school and helped build the community.

The cornerstone on the right contains the name of Bishop Johnson, who helped found St. Mark AME Church

The community had an AME church, school, and store. Twenty-seven families called Archery, Georgia home. Former President Jimmy Carter lived in Archery for a few years as a child. His boyhood home and family farm is just down the road between Archery and Plains.

One of two homes still standing in Archery