U.S. President Jimmy Carter at podium during news conference, Washington D.C., USA, Bernard Gotfryd, between 1977 and 1981
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Long before the White House, Jimmy Carter spent his childhood working the land around Plains, Georgia, alongside his father. Now the family farm, roughly 2,458 acres, has been sold for $8.5 million, and its future will look very different from what many feared.
In short
- The Conservation Fund announced on November 9, 2026, that it had purchased the Carter family farm outside Plains, Georgia, for $8.5 million.
- The land will be transferred to the state of Georgia in 2028 and could open to the public as early as 2027.
- “For our family, this land was always about more than a farm. It was home,” said Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter.
The land where it all started
The farm is where Carter spent much of his childhood working with his father, growing peanuts and other crops, according to The Hill. After his father’s death, Carter left the Navy and returned to Plains in 1952 to take over the family business.
Those years shaped the man who became the 39th president of the United States. Carter, who served as president from 1977 to 1981 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, died in December 2024 at the age of 100. He remained deeply tied to Plains for the rest of his life.
Who bought it, and why
The buyer is The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting land. The group plans to transfer the property to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in 2028.
The land will expand the Lanahassee Creek Wildlife Management Area to nearly 7,000 acres. It could open to the public for hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities as early as 2027.
“We’re honored to help ensure this land remains a healthy habitat for wildlife,” said Stacy Funderburke, the Conservation Fund’s vice president for the central Southeast region.
A family’s goodbye
For the Carter family, the sale is about legacy as much as land. “For our family, this land was always about more than a farm. It was home,” Jason Carter said.
Carter was known for his deep attachment to the outdoors, and turning the farm into protected habitat rather than housing echoes that commitment.
When land comes back to its roots
It is not the first time a historic American property has found a new purpose that honors its past. Jennifer Garner bought back the Oklahoma farm her grandfather purchased in 1936, and in Wyoming, the family that founded Kanye West’s former ranch bought it back.
What we don’t know
- The announcement does not name the seller.
- It does not say when the Carter family first acquired the land.
- Public access rules will depend on the state once the transfer is complete.
The limit
The opening date to the public is not final: 2027 is the earliest possibility mentioned, and the transfer to the state is planned for 2028.
The bottom line
The peanut fields where a future president learned to work the land will not become a subdivision. They will become a refuge for wildlife, and one day, a place anyone can visit.
