Jimmy Carter's family farm to be preserved and opened to the public

Jimmy Carter's family farm to be preserved and opened to the public Advertisement Updated: 8:16 AM CST Nov 11, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ By PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press Jimmy Carter's family farm to be preserved and opened to the public Updated: 8:16 AM CST Nov 11, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ By PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press The family farm where President Jimmy Carter tended peanuts, corn and sugarcane as a boy and later returned throughout his life will be preserved and opened to the public. Related video above: A look back at the life of President Jimmy Carter Advertisement Preservation group The Conservation Fund said Monday that it has acquired the farm as part of a 2,458-acre purchase. The farm is just outside Plains, Georgia, the 39th president's hometown. Carter spent his youth exploring the woods around the farm and returned many times as an adult to walk with his wife Rosalynn and hunt, the fund said. Near the end of his life, Carter, who died in 2024 at 100, returned to the farm for one final fishing trip to its pond. Rosalynn Carter died in 2023. Jimmy Carter's enduring environmental legacy "For our family, this land was always about more than a farm. It was home — a place my grandparents treasured. We're grateful to The Conservation Fund and to everyone working to make sure it's protected for generations to come," Jason Carter, a grandson of the Carters, said in a statement. Jim Wells President Jimmy Carter carries a peanut plant as he and his wife, Rosalynn, walk in a field at their farm near Plains, Ga., Aug. 19, 1978. The farm should be open to the public for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation as soon as next year, The Conservation Fund said. The fund said it plans to transfer the land to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources the following year. The purchase price was $8.5 million, according to a report from The Washington Post . The family kept a stand of mature longleaf pines at the farm at Carter's request, The Conservation Fund said. One of his final decisions about the property was to replant much of it with young longleaf pines, the fund said. Jimmy Carter's humble beginnings in rural Georgia SLIDESHOW 10 photos Bettmann Advertisement 1 of 10 The replanting effort means the property is a natural fit to expand Georgia's Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area, which will grow to almost 7,000 acres, the fund said. The Plains area is also home to Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, which includes Carter's boyhood home. "Long before Jimmy Carter protected millions of acres across America, he was a boy working the fields and roaming the woods of southwest Georgia," said Stacy Funderburke, vice president of the central Southeast region at The Conservation Fund. "This land shaped him and his legacy, and he never stopped coming home to it. We're honored to help ensure this land remains healthy habitat for wildlife, and we look forward to the day it is open to everyone who wants to experience it." Make WISN a preferred source on Google Add Preferred Source Share Infinite Scroll Enabled Top Picks Missing baby in South Carolina found buried alive a day after authorities say his father took him Mother and two young children killed in Missouri crash after semitruck struck their minivan Donald Trump’s private message to Joe Biden emerges in new White House memoir Kyle Busch posthumously wins NASCAR Cup Series most popular driver award in Miami