The National Park Service released the first public images on Friday of former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter’s final resting place.
The couple’s graves are side-by-side at the couple’s longtime home in Plains, Georgia. They reside in a memorial garden that Rosalynn designed and overlooks a pond that the Carters built and fished in.
The park says they are working on plans to make the memorial garden accessible to the public, with future updates to appear on their social media accounts.
In their more than 70 years of marriage, the Carters served as trailblazers for national advocacy for mental health, human rights and political reform.
The couple, who grew up only three miles apart from each other, had their first date as a matter of chance.
“I was cruising through Plains and saw Rosalynn on the front steps of the Methodist church on a Sunday night and asked if she would go to a movie with me,” said the former president in a 2015 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
“I knew that she was quiet, she was extremely intelligent, she was very timid … beautiful, and there was just something about her.”
The couple married in 1946, while Jimmy was still serving in the U.S. Navy. The couple lived in Virginia, Connecticut and Hawaii before returning back to Georgia shortly after the end of his active military career.
After a career in peanut farming, followed by two terms in the Georgia state senate, Jimmy Carter first stepped into the national spotlight during his tenure as Georgia governor from 1971 to 1975. His time in the governor’s mansion was followed by a four-year residency in the White House, serving as the 39th U.S. President of the United States from 1977-1981.
After his term in office, the Carters relocated back to Plains and, in 1982, the couple went on to establish the Carter Center. The Atlanta-based nonprofit, according to its website, is committed to preventing and resolving conflicts, enhancing freedoms and improving health for U.S. and international citizens.
In early 2023, after several years of faltering health, Jimmy was placed into home hospice care. Rosalynn followed on Nov. 17, passing away two days later at the age of 96.
In the next year, former President Carter would make history as the oldest living president at the age of 100 before passing away on Dec. 29, 2024.
Nearly a week of public viewing events followed his death, with motorcade stops in Americus, Atlanta and Washington D.C., where a national funeral service was held on Jan. 9 at Washington National Cathedral. Later that afternoon, a private service was held at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
On Sunday, former President Carter posthumously won a Grammy Award for his audio recording of “Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration,” a final collection of his Sunday School lessons recorded at Maranatha. Carter’s grandson, Jason, was in attendance to accept the award.
The couple is survived by their four children, Jack, Jeff, Chip and Amy, as well as more than 20 grandchildren.
Emma Hurt and Sam Gringlas contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this report stated incorrectly that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter received hospice care at a Plains-based facility. The former president and first lady received hospice care at their home in Plains.
