Thursday, October 29, 2009
Billy Carter's Gas Station (photo: Jim and Joan Brady)
Gas stations don’t often become historic landmarks, unless they were once owned by the colorful brother of a U.S. president. Congress is preparing to expand the historic site honoring former President Jimmy Carter by adding 30 acres that includes the gas station once owned by Billy Carter. The cost to the federal government is expected to be $17 million over five years.
The young brother of President Carter, Billy became famous for his alcoholic beverages (Billy Beer), redneck lifestyle and registering as a foreign agent for Libya. His gas station functioned as a gathering place for the national media covering Jimmy Carter’s run for the White House in 1976 and again in 1980. Billy Carter died of pancreatic cancer in 1988 at the age of 51.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Billy Carter Service Station to Be Added to Historic Site (by Alan K. Ota, CQ Politics)
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