(The Center Square) – Jimmy Carter lived in the Georgia governor’s mansion and the White House, but his real home was in the tiny town of Plains.
It is in this town in the southwestern part of the Peach State that the president will be laid to rest after a journey back to Atlanta and Washington.
Much of the town is a tribute to the former president, who died Sunday at the age of 100. Visitors are greeted with a large sign that says “Plains, Georgia. Home of Jimmy Carter, our 39th president.”
Before Carter and his family make their journey to the state funeral in Washington, they visit his boyhood home and ring the farm bell 39 times to symbolize his presidency.
The white frame house and farm on Old Plains Highway was home to the Carter family from 1928 to 1949 and is now part of the National Park Service. Carter’s bedroom has been preserved along with much of the farm. The National Park Service turned Jimmy and his wife Rosalynn’s old high school into a museum honoring their lives. Rosalynn died Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96. Carter’s former campaign headquarters is also located downtown.
After stopping in Plains, the family will travel to Atlanta and the state capital. State and local officials will hold a moment of silence for the former president there. After the short ceremony, his body will lie in repose at the Carter Center, a nonprofit created by Carter located next to his presidential library. Georgians and others can pay their respects there from Sunday to Tuesday.
Carter leaves Atlanta on Tuesday for Marietta’s Dobbins Air Force Base, where he will board Special Air Mission 39 for his last journey to Washington. The former president will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol until his state funeral on Thursday, according to the Carter Center.
Shortly after the funeral, the family will return to Plains and the Carters’ home church, Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, for a private service before a private interment at the Carter’s home.
The U.S. Navy’s missing man formation will fly over shortly before the former president, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and served until 1953.