Jimmy Carter in the PA Wilds
- by Lou Bernard
- November 7, 2024
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On October 1st, 2024, Jimmy Carter turned one hundred years old.
Carter, former president and humanitarian, is respected for plenty of reasons. Many people believe he was a good president, and his work since with Habitat For Humanity has been notable. He served in the Navy, and was governor of Georgia. And in the Pennsylvania Wilds, he is respected for having once stayed in the I-80 Frontier. In fact, he stayed in Clinton County for a short time, and has since said that Lock Haven is one of his favorite places in the world.
Image: President Carter’s official portrait, 1978, public domain
Once, at Bob Hope’s 75th birthday party, Carter overheard writer and actor James Bacon state that he was from Lock Haven. Bacon, who acted in the old “Planet of the Apes” movies and wrote the book “Hollywood Is A Four-Letter Word,” grew up in a house on Sixth Street.
Carter, overhearing this, grabbed Bacon and said, “Lock Haven! It’s one of my favorite towns in the world! You wouldn’t try to fool the president with that corny Lock Haven gag, would you?”
In May of 1968, Carter was serving a Baptist ministry with his church. He came to Lock Haven on a mission to establish a Southern Baptist Church in town, after a telephone poll suggested that it was necessary. He arrived with a partner and stayed in the local YMCA on Water Street.
Don’t believe me? Carter details the trip thoroughly in his autobiography, “Living Faith.” He wrote about his stay in Lock Haven, and how much he enjoyed it.
Carter and his partner canvassed the city, attempting to get donations and recruits. At one point, a woman told them that her religion was private before asking them to leave her house. Another woman donated a dollar to the cause. Roughly forty people agreed that they’d sign up for the planned church, and they wound up with enough donated funds to rent a building at 215 Grant Street. The building still stands, but it’s a private home today, not a church.
Image: 215 Grant Street in Lock Haven. Photo by Lou Bernard.
Several of the local pastors weren’t happy with the project, insisting that Carter and his partner were stealing parishioners from their own churches. Carter wound up meeting with them and explaining that their approach was to recruit brand-new members for their church, as opposed to converting people who already had churches. The pastors of Lock Haven were not exactly won over by this.
The high point of his trip was one evening when he and his partner asked a local Salvation Army worker for directions to a local building. The worker gave them directions, and dubiously asked if they were sure. Carter said that he was, and the two of them headed for the place.
It turned out to be a local brothel, which had once been a fairly big business in Lock Haven. (This is no longer a big industry in Clinton County.) Though Carter and his partner didn’t acquire any converts that evening, he did spend a couple of hours talking with one of the employees, offering kind and helpful advice. Carter being Carter, he managed to get her to agree to call her estranged parents and talk things over with them before he left.
I have a suspicion that Jimmy Carter keeps up on the news in Lock Haven, even today. I have received two Christmas cards from him in the past, which I suspect are because he’s seen my writing about Lock Haven. I treasure them, and I wish him well as he turns a century old.
Image: Writer Lou Bernard with one of the cards from Jimmy Carter.
