Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center The Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center, formerly known as the Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia, was a hospital. Currently, it is a nursing care facility, but was the birthplace of former United States President James Earl Carter Jr., who was born there on October 1, 1924 when his mother was working there as a registered nurse. Originally built in 1921 by Doctors Samuel, Thaddeus and Bowman Wise, children of early Plains settlers Dr. Burr T. Wise and Laura Addy Wise, the 60-bed sanitarium was one of the first small hospitals in Georgia to be recognized
Lillian Gordy Carter black and white communities. "Miss Lillian," as she was often known, allowed black people to enter her home through the front door, rather than through the back door as was the social norm, and would often have them in her living room for casual conversation just as she would a white neighbor. These conversations would even continue after her husband Earl was to arrive home expecting the guests to depart. Lillian Carter said that the strongest influence on her liberal views was her father. James Jackson Gordy, "Jim Jack" operated a Post Office in Lillian's hometown of Richland and was