Plains has no large hotels, just one small gas station and two restaurants, neither of which are typically open for dinner. Still, this small town has long had something different from other parts of Georgia. Jimmy Carter made this his home.
The town has been preparing for years for what will happen after Mr. Carter, especially since he has withdrawn from public life. But now that he's gone — Mr. Carter, who died last month at age 100 — the town hopes its prospects as a tourist destination won't be eclipsed by its most famous son.
Plains' optimism is based on the experience of other small towns known almost exclusively for their connections to former presidents, who still draw crowds decades or even centuries after that president's death. History has shown that it has the potential to attract
Hyde Park, adjacent to New York's Hudson River, is filled with tourists who visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt's library, home, and graveyard. Tampico, Illinois, is putting up signs advertising itself as the birthplace of Ronald Reagan and trying to encourage people to take a short detour on their way to Chicago to see the apartment where he was born.
These towns and others rely on the country's enduring appeal to the president. This is especially true among history buffs who find the insights they can provide fascinating.
“I realized there was something meaningful about experiencing what they went through and seeing the world through their eyes,” says Joe Feikosh, a history professor at Central Arizona University.
He has visited every available presidential birthplace and residence and even interned at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio. The former president met the Carters in 2017 after teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
However, there is no guarantee that the appeal will last forever. More than 100 presidential properties in major cities and rural towns draw thousands of visitors each year, but interest can wane as the president drifts into history. In recent years, a reassessment of historical figures and past sins, such as toppling monuments and changing school names, has also affected the appeal of historic sites.
In Charlottesville, Virginia, visitors to Monticello, the plantation once owned by Thomas Jefferson, are dwindling. Local tourism officials have expanded their once generous interpretation of Jefferson's history, adapting it to a more complex depiction, including his role in defending slavery as an institution. They are also trying to market Charlottesville as an emerging wine region, an identity that Jefferson also sought to establish some 250 years ago.
Courtney Kakatian, the association's executive director, said, “In the past, leisure travel was focused on some kind of historical discovery, but now it's changing because of people's relationship with history and the politicization of history.'' So, the relationship with the past is different.” Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau. “A lot of people don't want that as part of their vacation experience anymore.”
Plains isn't too worried about history's judgment. Many in the community believe public perception of Carter's accomplishments will continue to be positive. Americans remain divided over his performance as president. But at his funeral this week, there were widespread praise for his character and the extensive work he has done since leaving office to protect democracy, fight diseases such as the Guinea worm disease, and help poor people around the world. It highlighted that it had increased.
Plains is, in a sense, caught up in the flow of time. The capsule records the life that Mr. Carter and his wife Rosalyn lived there from the time they were alive.
There are no drive-thrus or supermarkets. Downtown's Dollar General has a brick facade that looks like it's been there forever. There are no more students at Plains High School. Like the Carter family farm outside of town and the Carter family home off Main Street, the high school is managed by the National Park Service.
This is a change that the Carters are deeply involved in. They put on an exhibition on racism at their high school. Visitors walking around the president's childhood home and farm hear stories of Mr. Carter visiting his black neighbors who lived in a nearby dilapidated house, and of the time he received a pony for Christmas. You can listen to recordings that talk about joy and other childhood memories.
“There are so many things that President Carter was involved in,” Plains City Councilman AB Jackson said.
Sarah Warren-Webber and her 17-year-old son, London, said the amount of documentation about Carter's life and where he grew up sets it apart from other presidential facilities they've visited around the country. .
“He's one of the last great presidents we've ever seen, an honest and actually kind person, so it's really great to be able to go through this,” London said. He and his mother drove 12 hours from Bloomington, Illinois, last week to watch Carter's casket be carried through Plains.
“They dedicated the whole town to him and his wife,” he added.
Many residents believe the Carters were keenly aware of how their presence attracted tourists and had a positive impact on the town's economy.
At least 50,000 tourists visited Plains annually from 2014 to 2019, when Carter still regularly taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church. The number of tourists dropped significantly in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted tourism and the Carters' health conditions worsened. But last year the number of tourists increased again, with about 45,000 people visiting the town. That doesn't include the hundreds of people per day who descended on the Plains after Carter died on Dec. 29.
For years, Mr. Carter has encouraged improvements to improve the city's appeal to tourists. He founded Friends of Jimmy Carter, a nonprofit that owns the seven-suite Plains Historic Inn and the antique mall below. He was also instrumental in opening the Buffalo Café, one of two restaurants in town, serving cheeseburgers, salads, and pimento cheese sandwiches. And he persuaded members of Congress to fund a train to ferry visitors to his former campaign headquarters.
“The president wanted to make sure the town would survive,” said Kim Carter Fuller, the president's niece. “Anything that could be done within the bounds of common sense, he did.”
However, the amount that could be accommodated on the plains was limited. The town is less than 1 square mile in area and has little public land available for sale for development. There is also a tension between the desire to attract more tourists and the desire not to disrupt the town's traditional way of life.
“We have no intention of changing Plains,” said Councilwoman Ellen Harris. “That’s what makes us unique.”
Local residents are grateful that the Carters chose to be buried at their home rather than at the presidential library in Atlanta, and hope the decision will help maintain a steady flow of visitors. . The Carters' cemetery is expected to open to the public in the coming months. The modest ranch built by the president and first lady in 1961 – where they raised their children and returned to after leaving the White House – will soon open to the public for the first time.
Some say events with ties to history will continue to attract attention, such as the city's Peanut Festival, held each September in honor of Carter's roots as a farmer. There are also new attractions. The latest work, Abt. 9A, which opened for private tours in October, is the home where Mr. Carter moved his wife and three sons with government subsidies after his father died in 1953.
After touring the apartment with Carter in 2001, Annette Wise, who spearheaded the project, received donations and sold them at thrift stores to recreate the family's modest furniture when they had little income. I searched for it. A paint chip in the closet helped the Carters trace the exact shade of dark green they painted in their living room and later used on campaign signs.
Wise said she believes all the time and effort will be worth it in the end.
“The Plains is heading in the right direction,” said Wise, a member of the Plains Historic Preservation Trust and founder and president of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail. “They left us with a big task. But they gave us plenty of time to learn what to do.”
Rick Rojas contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.
