Just down the path stood the shady, swept-sand yard where the thirty-ninth President of the United States played as a boy during the years of the Great Depression. This plain white farmhouse, tangled woods, and broad fields were home to Jimmy Carter until he left for college. Surrounded by a close family, he developed here the character and values that carried him to success as a naval officer, engineer, farmer, businessman, lawmaker, author, governor, president, and world statesman. Recalling his early years on the farm, Carter said that his family always had enough to eat but no money to waste, and that they felt close to nature, close to their family, and close to God.