Matt W.
Yelp
A very worthy diversion when in Southwest Georgia.
Now, first let me tell you that I tend to grade museums a little more generously than restaurants, so this might be 4 stars on a purely museum-quality level, but can you really complain when it is FREE (donations accepted/appreciated).
As another reviewers mentions, the NPS has done it again. I LOVE going to National Parks Service-run historical sites. As part of a blended family and a strong believer in giving history a fair, non-revisionist shake, there can be a lot of discomfort at some private Southern museums that want to whitewash history and focus on hoop skirts and mint juleps to the exclusion of black Americans and chattel slavery. You never have to worry about that at our National Parks - they are real professionals, from Natchez to St. Augustine and everywhere else.
This museum is located in the the old Plains High School where President Carter went to school and includes a tribute to a beloved local principal who inspired the president and many others during her long career.
We were greeted by a friendly young lady upon entering and given a map and pointed towards the different parts of the museum. We opted to watch the film, which she turned on specifically for us. It's well made if just a little bit dated (but a lot of it is archival footage so by its nature that's dated)
I highly recommend catching the film before leaving (ideally before starting). It gives you a lot of context you need for all the exhibits. My co-adventurer knew very little about Mr. Carter, and I think she benefited greatly from the information. The film itself is obviously pro-Carter, but as a moderate Republican I found only one or two things objectionable, and then only mildly. I particularly appreciated the early part of the film discussing Carter's upbringing and his relationship with the local community - black and white. To be clear, my view of Carter, only deepened by this museum, is of a genuinely good and honest man, with deep faith and convictions, who was perhaps overmatched by the problems of the presidency in the late 1970s. Maybe that's precisely it, the President has to be willing to get his hands dirty (some would argue) and be a bit ruthless in order to get things done, and Carter was just too good a guy for it.
The film was surprisingly light on his one-term presidency. It referenced the Panama Canal, the Camp David Accords, and other major items the president considered his greatest achievements. The Iranian Hostage Crisis, such a key part of the 1980 election, was largely smoothed over, with the focus being on the President's return to Plains. Perhaps the most controversial claim made by the documentary was Carter's claiming full credit for the freeing of the hostages. Some people credit Carter, some credit Reagan, and some credit the Contras, so this part may stick in the craw of some viewers.
The rest of the museum is composed of exhibits (mostly lots of text with some physical exhibits) which highlights aspects of Carter's life like his commitment to democracy and to eradicating diseases in the developing world.
The bottom line: For a free/donation-only museum, this place is great, both for the Carter-loving democratic, but also for the America-loving anybody. Either way Mr. Carter was our president, and, for we Southerners, important as the only president from the Deep South (at least post-Civil War). His humble beginnings and commitment to public service ought to be inspiring to all of us.
That said, I would NOT drive across country just to see this museum, but this is a great stop in conjunction with a visit to Andersonville Prison in nearby Americus. It's also an easy drive from Albany, Tifton, Valdosta, Thomasville, and even Tallahassee. Southwest Georgia can seem pretty desolate, but this is one of the jewels in a region with more of them than meets the eye.
