What We Know About Jimmy Carter's Georgia Farm Opening to Public

A nonprofit land trust has bought the Georgia farm where former President Jimmy Carter grew up, with plans to open the land to hunters, anglers and other visitors within the next year or two, according to a statement from the Conservation Fund reported Monday by The Guardian.

What happened to Carter's farm?

The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit focused on protecting land, announced it has acquired the Carter family farm outside Plains, Georgia. The group said the purchase permanently protects the property where Carter's conservation outlook took shape as a boy working alongside his father, Earl, on the family's peanut, corn and sugarcane operation, according to the Guardian's reporting on the Conservation Fund's statement.

Carter served as the 39th president of the United States starting in 1977 and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for humanitarian work. He died in December 2024. The farm acquisition is separate from the Carter family's longtime connection to Plains, where the National Park Service already operates historic sites tied to his presidency.

Where is the farm and how big is it?

The property sits in southwest Georgia near Plains, Carter's hometown, and spans roughly 2,458 acres, the Conservation Fund said. The group's plan calls for folding the farm into Georgia's Lanahassee Creek wildlife management area, a move that would grow that public hunting and fishing ground to nearly 7,000 acres once combined, the Guardian reported.

By the numbers

• 2,458 acres: size of Carter's family farm being acquired, per the Conservation Fund
• Nearly 7,000 acres: combined size of Lanahassee Creek wildlife management area after the farm is added
• 104 million acres: public land protected under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which Carter signed into law in 1980
• 39: national park system units established during Carter's presidency, including the Martin Luther King Jr. national historic site and the Chattahoochee River national recreation area in Atlanta

When will the public be allowed on the land?

The Conservation Fund said it intends to open the farm to outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing, as early as 2027. A full transfer of ownership to Georgia's Department of Natural Resources is planned for 2028, according to the group's statement cited by the Guardian.

Timeline

• 2026: Conservation Fund announces it has acquired the farm
• 2027 (earliest): Public access for hunting, fishing and other recreation begins
• 2028: Land ownership transfers to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources
• After 2028: Farm becomes part of the expanded Lanahassee Creek wildlife management area

How does the farm connect to Carter's conservation record?

The Conservation Fund drew a direct line between Carter's boyhood on the farm and his later policy decisions in the White House. The group said Carter explored the woods surrounding the property as a child and returned to that land throughout his life.

In late 1980, Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, protecting more than 104 million acres — what the Conservation Fund calls the largest expansion of protected public lands in U.S. history. His administration also established 39 units of the national park system, among them the Martin Luther King Jr. national historic site and the Chattahoochee River national recreation area, both in Atlanta, according to the group's statement.

The Guardian's report frames the farm purchase as an effort to preserve the physical setting the Conservation Fund says shaped those decisions — not just a historical marker, but working land Carter and his father farmed for peanuts, corn and sugarcane.

What happens once the state takes over?

Once the Georgia Department of Natural Resources receives the land in 2028, the farm is slated to operate as part of the state's wildlife management area system, which allows regulated public hunting and fishing on state-managed tracts. Combining the farm with the existing Lanahassee Creek acreage would create a roughly 7,000-acre public parcel in the region, per the Conservation Fund's figures reported by the Guardian.

No additional details on access rules, hunting seasons or visitor facilities were included in the Conservation Fund's statement as reported. Residents and outdoor groups in southwest Georgia are expected to get more specifics as the 2027 opening date approaches and the state finalizes management plans.

For now, the farm remains under the Conservation Fund's ownership, with the nonprofit framing the deal as a way to keep the land intact rather than see it sold off in pieces — a fate that has befallen other historically significant family farms once their owners died, according to the Guardian's account of the announcement.

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