# Plains & Andersonville *peanuts and the prison pen* Plains & Andersonville is a ~90-mile back-roads route from Macon to Plains on GA 49, driven in 1 day, that stays off I-75 through the Deep South. - **Drive:** Macon → Plains - **Distance:** ~90 mi - **Days:** 1 - **Highways:** GA 49 - **Avoids:** I-75 - **Region:** Deep South - **Themes:** History & Markers, Civil War, Small Towns, Eats & Institutions GA 49 runs the Peach Blossom Trail south from Macon's ancient mounds through orchard country to two of the most freighted small places in Georgia: Andersonville, where 13,000 Union prisoners died in fourteen months and the National Prisoner of War Museum now stands for captives of every war, and Plains, the one-stoplight town that sent a peanut farmer to the White House and kept him for the rest of his hundred years. Markers: NPS interpretation carries Andersonville; Plains is effectively one walkable national historical park. ## The drive, segment by segment ### Peach Belt *Macon → Montezuma · ~40 mi* Ocmulgee's earth lodge, Fort Valley's packing sheds, and the Mennonite dairies around Montezuma. Stops: - **Ocmulgee Mounds** (Macon) · History & Markers — Seventeen thousand years of habitation and a reconstructed earth lodge whose clay floor is a genuine thousand years old. Walk the Great Temple Mound at first light. - **Lane Southern Orchards** (Fort Valley) · Eats & Institutions — The Peach Blossom Trail's headquarters: packing lines in season, peach cobbler always. - **Montezuma Mennonite country** (Montezuma) · Small Towns — Dairies and bakeries of a community settled here in the 1950s; the farm-road pace is the attraction. ### Andersonville *Montezuma → Americus · ~30 mi* The stockade grounds, Providence Spring, the cemetery's dense white rows and the POW museum. Stops: - **Andersonville NHS** (Andersonville) · Civil War — Camp Sumter's reconstructed stockade corner, the spring the prisoners called Providence, and the National Prisoner of War Museum, which speaks for every war's captives. ### Plains *Americus → Plains · ~20 mi* The Windsor's turret, Habitat's global village, and the depot town Carter never really left. Stops: - **Americus & the Windsor** (Americus) · Iconic Stays — A five-story 1892 Victorian castle hotel downtown; Habitat for Humanity's global village sits a few blocks away. - **Plains** (Plains) · History & Markers — Jimmy Carter's whole town: the depot campaign HQ, the boyhood farm's rope bell, brother Billy's gas station. A presidency you can walk in an afternoon. ## Tips and best time to go - Give Andersonville a half day; the museum alone rearranges you. - Peach season runs May to August; the Trail earns its name in late March bloom. ## Worth a detour - **Koinonia Farm** — The 1942 interracial Christian farm that outlasted boycotts and bombings and seeded Habitat for Humanity; the pecans fund the witness. - **SAM Shortline** — An excursion train from Cordele that rolls into Plains itself; ride one way, drive the other. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is Plains & Andersonville and how many days does it take? Plains & Andersonville is about 90 miles and takes 1 day at a back-roads pace. ### Where does Plains & Andersonville start and end? It runs from Macon to Plains. ### Which highways does Plains & Andersonville follow? It follows GA 49. ### Which interstate does Plains & Andersonville replace? It avoids I-75, using GA 49 instead. ### How many stops are on Plains & Andersonville, and what are the highlights? 6 stops are mapped, including Ocmulgee Mounds, Lane Southern Orchards, Montezuma Mennonite country, Andersonville NHS and Americus & the Windsor. ### When is the best time to drive Plains & Andersonville? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Peach season runs May to August; the Trail earns its name in late March bloom.” ## Connects with - [Sherman's March to the Sea](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/sherman-march-sea) — Milledgeville → Savannah - [US 341: The Golden Isles Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us341-golden-isles) — Barnesville → Brunswick - [The Chattahoochee Trace](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/chattahoochee-trace) — Columbus → Bainbridge --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/plains-andersonville Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05