A president’s hometown

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 1st. This is WORLD Radio. Thanks for listening. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Former President Jimmy Carter. Today he’s a centenarian, 100 years old, surpassing the presidential longevity record by almost six years.

After his term in office Carter devoted the rest of his life to humanitarian work, the arts, and church. He did all that from a small town in southern Georgia.

REICHARD: WORLD Radio’s Lindsay Mast has our story.

LINDSAY MAST: To get to Plains, Georgia, you have to drive miles of South Georgia backroads. With a population of 573, it’s known for one thing: being Jimmy Carter’s home.

AUDIO: Our top-selling button is this, and this.

It also happens to be home to the self-proclaimed largest political memorabilia store in the country—2500 square feet of trinkets and mementos.

PHILIP KURLAND: Truman, Taft, Cleveland, Millard Fillmore.

That’s Philip Kurland—a guy with a specialty. He’s showing off his collection of presidential campaign buttons inside the Plains Trading Post. The buttons span the time from Harris and Trump back to before the Civil War.

KURLAND: Harrison, Teddy Roosevelt, Bull Moose, Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge.

And of course, Jimmy Carter. Kurland’s store sits on Main Street, nestled between an antique mall and a shop selling all things peanut: fried peanuts, peanut brittle, peanut souvenirs, a rich peanut butter soft serve.

SOUND: [Downtown Plains]

Outside, songs from the height of Carter’s political career play over a loudspeaker—disco and yacht rock. Ten evenly spaced American flags wave under the town’s trademark sign, proclaiming it the home of the 39th President.

For a long time, the chance to catch a glimpse of the former president was enough to bring visitors to town.

JIMMY CARTER: And if you take a seed peanut, which I used to grow and sell, by the way, the best, best seed peanuts in Georgia. (laughter)

But as he marks his 100th birthday, it’s hard to know what lies ahead for the town.

Carter was born and raised in Plains, and moved back after college and a career in the Navy. He and wife Rosalynn took over the family peanut farm before getting into politics. He became Georgia’s governor, then president. He could’ve lived anywhere, but again, he picked Plains.

In this clip from 2006, Carter walks down Main Street with a crew from CBS.

CARTER ON CBS: Yeah, the folks in Plains, they don’t ever think about calling me anything but Jimmy, and Rosalynn…

REPORTER: Some of them call you Mr. Jimmy.

CARTER: Some of them do. In fact some of the tiny kids call me Jimmy Carter, and if they are Baptist they may call me Brother Jimmy.

Post-presidency, he started the Carter Center in Atlanta and worked with humanitarian causes around the globe. But he has spent the last 40-plus years of his life deeply invested in the community of Plains.

Phillip Kurland says he saw that investment firsthand when he moved here.

KURLAND: I turned to my wife, and I say, I wonder if the Carters really live here. Well, no sooner than they came out of my mouth, I looked up and they were coming in to welcome us to the community, and it was standard for them to welcome new people to the community.

Carter taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church for decades. People came from everywhere, camping out in the parking lot to get a seat and a picture with the former president. Audio here from the last class he taught, in 2019.

CARTER: Oregon, Nevada, Washington D.C., Robert Good to have you here…

But a lot has changed. Crowds that used to number upwards of 500 have dwindled to fewer than 20. Maranatha went without a pastor for two years, left the Southern Baptist Convention, and hired a new female pastor. Audio here from a recent sermon.

GUTHAS: The church, our church, Maranatha, it is a place that is meant to lead people out of bondage and yet all too often I have found the church has caged the human spirit.

Flags line the shops on Main Street in Plains, Ga. Photo by Lindsay Mast

The town is different, too. Rosalynn passed away last November. Plains’ mayor of 4 decades stepped down in January. With changes and the passing of time, what will become of Plains, when the main attraction is gone?

KIM FULLER: We've had people say, “Oh, when he dies, it's going to blow away and storefronts are going to close.”

Kim Fuller is Carter’s niece. She serves as head of the Friends of Jimmy Carter. They hold events like last weekend’s Plains Peanut Festival. August’s annual Butterfly Daze festival, to honor Mrs. Carter.

FULLER: We're trying so hard, not only for us, but once again, we don't want to disappoint them, you know.

Fuller says she’s confident the town will stay relevant. Her group–and others–have spent years working to ensure Plains remains of interest.

SOUND: [Train pulls into Plains]

A few days a month, a train rumbles along between nearby Americus and Plains, rolling by Southwest Georgia’s pecan groves and peanut farms. The train stops on Main Street, giving the town a brief boost of visitors.

Additionally, several places in town have been designated National Historical Park sites—including Carter’s alma mater and boyhood home. This visitor stopped in on his way from New Orleans to South Carolina.

VISITOR: I was always interested in learning about Jimmy Carter, all the work he did for the environment and international peace, and has continued to do that after his presidency, so wanted to see where he grew up.

SOUND: [Downtown Plains]

Back on Main Street, Philip Kurland looks over his inventory. He’s currently trying to sell the Plains Trading Post, but he has hope for the future of his adopted hometown.

KURLAND: We're evolving, but in my 30 years here, we just keep getting better and better. I love the community spirit here.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast in Plains, Georgia.

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