In a few days, the president of the United States, prominent humanitarians and other world leaders will celebrate the death of Jimmy Carter at a towering cathedral in Washington.
But before that, a hearse carrying the body of Carter, the 39th President of the United States, was parked outside a farmhouse in Georgia on Saturday. There he raised chickens, helped his father tend to his peanut crop, and began a seemingly impossible, century-long journey that would catapult him from Plains, Georgia, to the pinnacles of political influence and the mission to eradicate disease and the global mission to protect the environment.
This is the first stop on a long journey to say goodbye to a long and eventful life. The trek, like his life, began and ended in rural Georgia, where he was born and raised and died on December 29 at the age of 100.
A series of commemorations over the coming days will discuss the impression Mr. Carter left on the world, including his legacy after one term in the White House and his life after leaving office.
On Saturday, that journey began with recognition of the places and people who helped shape him.
He wrote many books and spoke lovingly of his upbringing, in which he milked cows, learned to cook possum (taste: “unique”) and fetched water from a well. He also describes the fraught racial dynamics of the segregated South and the enduring stresses of the Civil War.
Mr. Carter wrote “The Hour Before Dawn,” a memoir of his early life, which was shortlisted for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. “Our two races, although inseparable in daily life, are separated by social customs, misunderstandings of the Bible, and the undisputed laws of the land.
The trip began around 10 a.m. in Americus, Georgia, where current and former Secret Service agents charged with protecting Carter carried his body into a hearse.
In addition to stopping at his childhood home, now maintained by the National Park Service, the hearse passed through Plains, a town of about 500 people that served as his base throughout his life.
As the hearse and motorcade pulled to a country road beside a farmhouse outside Plains, bells tolled 39 times to honor his place in the line-up of U.S. presidents.
It was a fresh morning and people came from all directions to perch along the way. Heather Baade, 54, who drove from Austin, Texas, expressed a sentiment shared by many others: “I love Jimmy Carter.” She admired his combination of deep Christian faith and secularity. The ability to strike a balance among leaders. She also believed he was “trying to win the hearts and minds of the country,” she said, “but we don’t see that very much anymore.”
Robert Garland, a retired Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputy, was assigned to cover Mr. Carter’s business in 1991 when he visited Miami to work on a Habitat for Humanity housing project. security work. “He was probably our greatest president,” Mr. Garland, 64, said. “He leads with dignity, honor and respect.”
The motorcade will wind from the plains through rural routes flanked by farmland and woods to the sprawling interstates of Atlanta’s suburbs.
There, city and state leaders, including Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens, planned to stand by outside the gold-domed Capitol. Those gathered are asked to pause for a moment of silence.
From there, a tour of the streets of Atlanta will begin, with a hearse carrying the former president through the city where he was a longtime presence. He loves Warriors games. He would go to Manuel’s Tavern, a bar frequented by Georgia Democrats. He worked countless hours at the Carter Center, the nonprofit he founded with his wife after leaving the White House.
This day’s trip is expected to end in the tree-covered heartland of Northeast Atlanta. A private funeral will be held in the afternoon and he will be laid to rest from Saturday evening until early Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning, the journey continues to Washington, where he will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol for a day and a half. The funeral is scheduled for Thursday morning at Washington National Cathedral, where President Biden is expected to deliver the eulogy. President-elect Donald J. Trump has said he will attend.
From there, Mr. Carter will be taken back to Plains. On Thursday, he will be buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, in the cemetery just outside the home they built together in 1961.
