PLAINS, Georgia

Jimmy Carter was elected President in 1976, shortly after, this 10 foot "smiling" peanut appeared in Plains!  After the election, the community of fewer 700 drew several thousand visitors each day!

Maranatha Baptist Church

This church was established when the congregation of the Plains Baptist Church split in the 1970s.  President Carter is an active member who serves as a deacon and Sunday School teacher.

Plains High School Museum 

Plains High School opened in 1921 and served students until 1979.  It has a rich history of educators and a progressive curriculum.  One of those educators greatly influenced Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Her name was Miss Julia Coleman and today many of her quotes are painted on hallway walls.

Miss Julia's Classroom

This classroom is set in 1937 when Miss Julia was Jimmy Carter's seventh grade English teacher.  In 1981, Carter said of Miss Julia, "I thought... she treated me in a special way because I was exceptional in some way, but later I found this was not the case.  She had a lot of special students... I have been continually surprised to discover how many of her students she made to feel extraordinary because she saw in them an exceptional yearning, or talent - or just a need for love and understanding".

Miss Julia's desk...

I liked the sign leaning in the chalk tray behind Miss Julia 's desk.

Coat hooks and lunch pails in hallway.

In the 1930s school began in the auditorium with patriotic songs, daily announcements, and on occasion, students performed plays for the entire student body.

Had to take this picture!  Cove drinking fountain... and it's in Plains, Georgia too!

Scott with the Cardboard Carters!

Business District

Downtown Plains remains relatively unchanged since Carter's youth.  

Billy Carter's Gas Station

Jimmy Carter's younger brother, Billy, ran the local gas station and was active in the family farm supply business.  It was a popular place for visitors and members of the news media.

Plains Depot

Jimmy's Boyhood Farm

Childhood home, the Carters grew peanuts, cotton, sugar cane, and corn to sell, and raised vegetables and livestock for their own consumption.

This store is adjacent to the Carter home and had various rural necessities for sale.  Earl Carter also sold hams, pork shoulders, and sausage which he cured in the smokehouse.  Farm workers and neighbors would buy goods on credit and then settle their bill on payday, which was Saturday. 

Area around the barn on the Carter farm.

Farm animals included cows, guinea hens, ducks, geese, and pigs.  Jimmy had pets to take care of such as dogs, Shetland ponies, and calves and pigs for FFA projects.

Jack and Rachel Clark were day laborers who lived in this cabin on the Carter farm.  They were provided a place to live and earned a salary in exchange for their work.

Happy Birthday, JADEN!

Happy 10th Birthday to Jaden from Apalachicola, Florida!  We love you!

These men are seining for shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico, near Port Saint Joe on Florida's Forgotten Coast.

Apalachicola 

Shrimp boats docked along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Apalachicola.

See the outboard motor on this house boat?  It was traveling down the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Carrabelle

The "World's Smallest Police Station" came into being in 1963 so that the police in this small town could watch the traffic on US Highway 98 from their squad car, keep dry in inclement weather, and answer the phone in emergencies!  Tourists kept sneaking in and making long distance calls from the phone so eventually they took the dial out and the phone only received incoming calls.

Leon Sinks Geological Area

Gopher Hole

Fisher Creek Sink

The Woodville Karst Plain runs from Tallahassee to the Gulf of Mexico.  A karst is terrain that rain and groundwater have changed by dissolving the underlying limestone bedrock.  A wet sinkhole is an opening to the Floridian aquifer.

Tallahassee 

I really liked the candy-striped awning on the Capitol.  The awning was on the building when it was built through the 1920s.  They were placed back on the building during the 1980s restoration that returned the structure to it's historic 1902 appearance.

The Florida State Capitol Building in Tallahassee.  In front is the Historic Capitol and the tower behind it is the new Capitol Building.

Florida Gulf Coast

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Scott and I discovered something about Florida State Parks today; they often purchased or were given  someone's dream.  This park is a roadside tourist attraction from the 1950's that's been updated and is now run by the parks service. The park showcases native Florida wildlife, including manatees.  We went to see the manatees but it's been too warm so they were out in the gulf feeding.  

Manatees

Homosassa Springs is a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned manatees so the manatees seen in these pictures are being fed and cared for until they can be returned to the wild.

The Fish Bowl was built in the 1940s.  The park also housed the Ivan Tors Animal Actors, the most famous being Buck the Bear, a stand-in for TVs Gentle Ben.  The only animal remaining from that era is Lu, the hippo.  He weighed too much to move and will celebrate his 54th birthday this year in the park.

Lu

Snook as seen from the Fish Bowl.

Snook have yellow fins and a black line along their side.

Pepper Creek Boat Tour

Alligator and turtle sharing a log dock together!

Wood duck nesting boxes were all along the Pepper Creek.  The mothers push their fluffy babies out the door and it's sink or swim!

Wood Duck pair

Bald Eagle, can you locate the nest at the bottom of the photo?

Alligator

Turtles

Great Blue Heron and turtles!

I took this picture of a River Cooter Turtle but discovered there was a Wood Duck hidden in the bushes after I downloaded it!

Roadside Florida

Gimme ice cream!

We stopped for gas and this store was next to the gas station.  Inside... free fresh squeezed orange juice!  Delicious!

This orange tree was growing next to The Yearling Restaurant in Cross Creek.

The Yearling Restaurant 

Willie Green, Delta-style Bluesman, played during our lunch.

Sour Orange Pie - this was very yummy, kinda like a cross between an orange Creamsicle  and Key Lime pie.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Home

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park is the homestead where visitors can experience the farm life and Florida landscape that inspired Rawlings to write Cross Creek and The Yearling.  Rawlings moved from New York City to the farm in 1928 to write.  The Cross Creek farmhouse was assembled over the previous 40 years from three separate buildings.

Marjorie wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Yearling, at this table on the front porch.  I reread 

The Yearling on this trip and it's still a great read.  Check it out at the library!  

1940 Oldsmobile

Doors to Marjorie's bedroom and the guest bedroom.  

Marjorie added indoor plumbing with money she earned from an early story.  To celebrate she invited her neighbors.  The tub was filled with ice and soda, a tray of glasses on the sink and red roses in the toilet made it a "gala social event."  Later Rawlings added another bathroom off her bedroom stating, "nothing is more tangible for one's money than plumbing."

This handmade bed is the oldest piece of furniture in the house.  Among the many famous people who slept here were poet Robert Frost, authors Margaret Mitchell and Thornton Wilder, artist N.C. Wyeth, and actor Gregory Peck.

Cross Creek Cookery written by Rawlings is on display in the kitchen.

Cornhusk Broom

Wash tubs out in back of the house.

Outhouse with signal flag (displayed when in use).

The tentant house sits behind the family home between the woods and the orange grove.

Tenant house front porch looks very inviting... stop and sit a spell.