When we first decided to spend the month of May in Georgia, I knew we wanted to see all the Jimmy Carter historical sites here in the state. So, our next move was to Georgia Veteran's State Park near Cordele, GA, using this park as our base we could see so many interesting places. And what an amazing park it is, set along Lake Blackshear in central Georgia.
The park is a memorial to all US Veterans and includes a museum with aircraft, armored vehicles, uniforms, and medals from the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War. A field outside the museum displays planes of different eras. But besides its dedication to veterans, the park has so many other features. An 18-hole golf course, a resort and conference center, cottages, two restaurants, a sandy swimming beach, and 77 campsites. We arrived late afternoon Saturday of Mother's Day weekend which meant the campsites near the lake were taken so we drove through the wooded loop further back and found a wonderful pull through site. It was so quiet in that loop, lots of families but the only noise that night came from a band performing at the outside bar near the marina. We had tickets for the community theater in Americus to see
To Kill A Mockingbird. Fun to experience a small town production and hear all the buzz of families in the audience as the play began. A darling little 7 year old played Scout with so many lines to learn and she did them really well, but even with her little microphone attached it was often hard to hear her. By the time we got back to the campground we were too tired to take in the music at the marina and just called it a night.
We had planned to stay only 4 nights so we were up early Sunday to drive north and visit The National Prisoner of War Museum, and the Andersonville Civil War Prison. This military prison at Camp Sumter was one of the largest Confederate prisons during the Civil War. It only operated for 14 months but more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined there. Of those, about 13,000 died. It was overcrowded to four times its capacity, with inadequate water supply, limited food rations, and terrible sanitary conditions.
Today, the site is a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout our nation's history. A very moving experience walking through the corridors of displays, many with audio and film slips playing. We were fortunate to arrive just as a Ranger was leading a tour of the rectangular field explaining how the prison was designed and operated. Though the prison itself was nothing more than 16 acres of open land with two parallel rows of fencing, it was the circumstances under which the Union prisoners lived that is the gruesome tale. The stockade wall was 16-feet tall with a second fence called "the dead line" about 19' inside; anyone crossing that "dead line" was shot without warning.
The Park Ranger spoke and walked with us around the property for over an hour explaining in detail the experience of those 14 months. Along the way he pointed out the many state memorials that are now on the site.
One area of the field showed how the men would create small shelters for protection against the heat and the cold using whatever material they might.
Not far from the prison boundaries is the Andersonville National Cemetery, burial place of the Union soldiers who died while being held at Camp Sumter and also for more recent veterans.
We finished the visit at Andersonville and still had much of the afternoon left to drive about 25 miles south to Plains, GA and see the home and historic sites for President Jimmy Carter. On our way we saw a "brown sign" which only means one thing...something historical is nearby. If we can catch it quickly enough we detour to see what ever there is. This time the sign lead us to a Charles Lindbergh moment at the tiny Souther Field Airport in Americus, GA where he flew solo for the very first time in 1923.
Georgia erected the statue in 1985 showing Lindbergh wing-walking, a stunt he did at air shows to earn money so he could come to this airport and buy a plane and fly solo...a little unexpected piece of history along our way.
Once we were in Plains, our first stop was at the Visitor Center housed in the former Plains High School, which President Carter and Mrs. Carter both attended.
From there we had the map to get us out to other sites.
When we arrived at the Carter family home there was only one other couple waiting for the tour. It was such a hot afternoon the guide loaded us onto the golf cart and away we went stopping for explanations along the way.
After touring the farm we went into Plains and though most of the shops were closed that Sunday afternoon we stopped in for peanut butter ice cream at this shop.
Then we walked down Main Street to the Train Depot but it had just closed for the day. We peeked in the windows to get a glimpse of the memorabilia from the Carter Presidential Campaign Headquarters.
The little town of Plains had only a population of 653 citizens in 1975 when Jimmy Carter began his race for the Presidency. Today it is still a small, rural southern town, quiet and peaceful where Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter continue to make their home. I kinda wish I'd checked out the church they attend and perhaps could have had the President as a Sunday School teacher.
We returned to our campground late afternoon which was now almost empty, I think there were only four of us in our 25 site loop that evening. The weekend crowds had left and when we biked down by the lake Monday morning there were tons of sites available. So, we packed up and moved on down to the water, cooler with absolutely gorgeous views.
Once we found this site we extended our stay from just two nights to a week, we loved it here. The wonderful thing that makes the Georgia Park System different from other state parks is their reservation system. Usually when I am making reservations I have to reserve a specific site, but that's not how Georgia does it. My reservation is held for any available site when I get there, so we get to drive around and pick where we want to be based on actually seeing the park. Since no one can reserve that particular site, we don't have to move to accommodate another party's reservation as we do in so many other parks. I heard lots of locals complaining, but to us it was perfect! Thank you, Georgia!
After getting everything set up again, we just sat and enjoyed the view the rest of the day. I was reading
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and was eager to have time to just read! Even though we are in a very low key life style, I often keep us too "scheduled" with places and things to see, often leaving little time to do the nothingness of sitting or reading.
The park is so large that we had lots of bike riding, and being so close to the water made it easy to put the kayak in and paddle around.
And, each afternoon about dinner time, the Canadian geese families would come along the bank.
So, Tuesday we went back into Americus to visit the Habitat for Humanity Center. After lunch at
The 1800 Mexican Restaurant, we stopped in at the main offices and were sent on down three blocks to visit The Global Village.
At the village, we walked the self guided tour of dwellings showing housing before and after the work of Habitat for Humanity from the tenement shacks in many parts of the world
to the solid structures of new homes. Such a moving experience and an excellent way to visually explain what Habitat for Humanity really does.
With a couple more days at the park we stayed out of the car and enjoyed the beauty and solitude of the park mid week. Slowly as the weekend came around the sites filled again but we had such a private site we felt so lucky to stay another few days. We are beginning to see the benefit of staying a week or so in one place, it actually begins to feel like home.
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