17 Best Things to Do in Americus, GA

Americus, Georgia is a charming small town that perfectly blends history and art. Find out all the best things to do in Americus here!

From staying at a historic Victorian hotel that’s a crown jewel of the city to sipping your way through a craft beer festival that combines art and brews, there are so many unexpected things to do in Americus!

If you’re interested in Jimmy Carter history, want to see the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, enjoy muscadine wines, or are a fan of Victorian architecture, then you’ll love visiting Americus, GA.

A special thanks to Visit Americus & Sumpter County for hosting our visit! As always, all opinions are my own.

Top Things to Do in Americus

1. Stay at the Historic Windsor Hotel

The Windsor Hotel in Americus was built in 1892 to attract visitors from the north as a stopping point on their way down to the beach. When it opened, it had 100 rooms and welcomed notable guests like Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryant, and John Dillinger.

The hotel closed in 1974 and was nearly demolished, but it underwent a $5.8 million renovation and reopened in 1991. Now, the hotel has 53 unique period-style rooms and suites. After its reopening, the hotel welcomed famous guests like President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn and Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn.

Each room is different, but they all have a Victorian ambiance as well as modern amenities. We stayed in a spacious Queen room on the 3rd floor with a comfortable bed, a table and chair, two dressers, a desk and chair, a TV, a refrigerator, a microwave, and a Keurig coffee maker.

The hotel is the perfect location in Downtown Americus. You’re within walking distance of all the great shops and restaurants in Downtown, and you’re just a short drive from the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, Koinonia Farm, and more.

You can read my full review of the Windsor Hotel here.

Book your stay at the Windsor Hotel here.

2. Visit for the Americus Hot Glass Craft Beer Festival

If you like craft beer and you like artisan glass blowing, then this event is for you!

The annual Americus Hot Glass Craft Beer Festival is hosted in Downtown Americus by Americus Main Street. It combines Georgia’s expansive craft brewing culture and Americus’ rich history or artisan glass blowing.

A ticket gets you a commemorative festival glass and tastings from more than 20 regional craft breweries with multiple selections of their brews. And it’s more than just beer! Mead, cider, seltzers, wines, and even distilled spirits are also represented.

While you taste, you also get to shop local glass artisans and watch demonstrations throughout the day from each artist. The event also has local food trucks and live music and entertainment.

Hot tip: If you get a VIP ticket, you’ll have access to a special VIP tent with unlimited fresh food, exclusive tastings, exclusive restrooms, unlimited craft beer tasting, and a custom handblown glass souvenir.

3. Wine Tasting at Wolf Creek Plantation Tasting Room at the Windsor

Wolf Creek Plantation specializes in muscadine wines, locally grown and produced here in Sumter County. You can taste all their wines right in Downtown Americus.

Their Tasting Room is located at the Windsor Hotel. You can access it from the hotel lobby or from the street.

They have 12 different wines and a bunch of wine slushie flavors. You can do a wine tasting of 6 wines, all 12 wines, a flight of four, or wines by the glass.

I recommend doing the tasting of all 12, that way you know exactly what you like! Kevin and I both had their Uniquely Southern Blackberry as our top pick, followed by the Uniquely Southern Watermelon.

4-6. Visit the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park

Just 10 miles away in Plains, GA is the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, which includes multiple sites associated with 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter.

Make the trip to visit Jimmy Carter’s Boyhood Farm, Plains High School where he and Rosalynn studied, and the Plains Train Depot that served as his campaign headquarters during the 1976 election. Eventually, the park will welcome the public into the Carters’ former home and to visit their gravesite.

Learn at Plains High School Visitor Center

The former Plains High School is where Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter attended high school. It now serves as the Visitor Center for the National Historic Park. This is a great place to start your visit.

The museum takes you through the lives of the Carters; has restorations of the principal’s office, classroom, and auditorium; and even has a replica of Jimmy Carter’s desk at the Oval Office where you can sit and take your picture.

Visit Jimmy Carter’s Boyhood Farm

Just 3 miles away in the small community of Archery is Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm. This is where he lived from age four until he left for college.

You can take a self-guided tour of the Carter farmhouse, his father’s Commissary, the blacksmith shop, barns and other farm buildings, and the Clark House where farmhand Jack Clark and his wife Rachel lived.

Stop at the Plains Train Depot

The former Plains Train Depot is where Carter held his presidential campaign headquarters. You can see exhibits on the 1976 campaign and election.

7. Take a Tour of Koinonia Farm

Koinonia Farm was founded in 1942 as an experiment in interracial community living just 11 miles outside of Americus. It’s also the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity. Since its founding, Koinonia has welcomed everyone, no matter your race, faith, or background.

The interracial community that treated black and white people equally caused a lot of controversy in the Jim Crow-era South. The terrorism, threats, and intimidation the members of Koinonia endured are all detailed in the Emmy Award-winning documentary Briars in the Cotton Patch: The Story of Koinonia Farm, which you can watch when you visit the farm.

In the 1960s, Koinonia started a new effort for partnership with its neighbors, including constructing affordable houses for low-income families. The local Koinonia Partnership Housing Movement spurs the beginning of Habitat for Humanity International, headquartered in Americus.

A farm tour will take you around the still-active community. We got to see the library, the dining hall (where you can join them for lunch), the apartments where volunteer partners who “Come, Stay Awhile and Serve” live, and the bakery where they make their delicious chocolates.

During the 1950s, when citizens of Sumter County boycotted the farm, Koinonia started a small mail-order catalog to sell their pecans and peanuts worldwide, with the slogan “Help us ship the nuts out of Georgia!”. In the gift shop, you can purchase farm-fresh nuts, chocolate-covered nuts, honey, olive oils, and more. And you can order online from home.

8. Take a Self-Guided Downtown Architecture Tour

Pick up a brochure at the Americus Welcome Center for a self-guided downtown walking architecture tour.

This walking tour covers about 3 blocks of the Downtown Commercial District and takes you along W. Lamar Street, W. Forsyth Street, N. Jackson Street, and N. Lee Street.

You’ll see Americus’ diverse architecture from the Queen Anne-style Windsor Hotel to the Art Deco-style Rylander Theatre to the Carpenter Gothic-style First Presbyterian Church.

9. Dine Around Town

Americus has a great dining scene. Here are a few of my favorite restaurants in Americus:

• Sweet Georgia Bakery & Cafe — Sandwiches and bakery items
• Floyd’s Pub — Restaurant on the balcony of the Windsor Hotel with bar food staples
• Rosemary & Thyme — Victorian-style restaurant in the Windsor Hotel, perfect for breakfast and brunch
• Pat’s Place — Pizza, sandwiches, and wings
• 1800 Mexican Restaurant — All your Mexican favorites
• The Spot — Southern and Latin fusion

10. Visit the Andersonville National Historic Site and National POW Museum

The Andersonville National Historic Site is the site of the Camp Sumter Civil War Military Prison, home of the National Prisoner of War Museum, and the site of the Anderson National Cemetery.

You’ll start your visit at the National Prisoner of War Museum. This museum tells the stories of POWs throughout American History, from the Revolutionary War to today. You can hear accounts from former POWs and their families about their first-hand experience.

Behind the museum, you can walk to the site of Camp Sumter, or you can drive the loop around the entire site.

Camp Sumter, or the Andersonville Prison, was the deadliest ground of the Civil War. Designed to hold 10,000 prisoners, the largest number the prison held at one time was 33,000. During its 14 months of operation, the prison held a total of 45,000 Union solders, 12,920 of whom died from disease, malnutrition, and the terrible conditions.

You’ll want to drive to the Andersonville National Cemetery. The 12,920 men who died at the prison are buried here. After the Civil War, the burial ground was designated a national cemetery. Since then, 7,000 members of the armed forces and their families have been laid to rest in Anderson National Cemetery.

11. Visit for First Friday

On the first Friday of each month, Americus Main Street hosts the First Friday event at shops and restaurants in Downtown.

Each month has a different First Friday theme. We visited for Artsapalooza, where artists were set up on the sidewalk and businesses had art activities that you could join in.

Other themes include Flashback Friday, Downtown Tailgate, and Home for the Holidays. This is a great way to get out and see what’s going on in Downtown Americus and pop into stores and restaurants to see what’s new.

12. Check Out Café Campesino Community Coffeehouse

Café Campesino is Georgia’s first and only 100% fair trade, organic specialty coffee company. You can get a taste of their fresh-roasted coffee at Café Campesino Community Coffeehouse.

They import all of their coffee directly from small landholder coffee farmer cooperatives. Their partners are located in Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Sumatra.

The coffeehouse serves hot coffees and teas, iced and blended drinks, breakfast bakery items, and coffee by the pound.

You can start your morning off right knowing your cup of coffee helps support an equitable and sustainable global trade and provides small farmers the resources needed for community development, preservation of culture, and conservation of land.

13. Get Some Peanut Butter Ice Cream at Plain Peanuts

Plain Peanuts in downtown Plains is known for their peanut butter ice cream.

Stop in after a visit to the Plains Train Depot for some ice cream and local goods from peanuts to jams and jellies to mustards.

14. Get Some Ice Cream at Scoops

Scoops is a classic ice cream shop in Americus. They have 32 different homemade flavors of ice cream.

And if you’re not in the mood for ice cream, they also have packaged candy, candies by the pound, chocolates, hand-dipped caramel apples and strawberries, plus lots of toys.

We recommend their Praline Pecan ice cream, Cheesecake ice cream, and chocolate covered strawberries.

15. Take a Glass Blowing Class at Mobile Glassblowing Studios

Mobile Glassblowing Studios created portable glass furnaces, which are used for the Americus Hot Glass Craft Beer Festival.

But you can also check out their events throughout the year so that you can make your own glass creation to take home.

Learn to make things like wine glasses, cups, tumblers, ornaments, flowers, bowls, vases, beads, and mini turtles. Keep an eye on their upcoming events here for their next workshop.

16. See Historic Homes on the Self-Guided Americus Driving Tour

Pick up a brochure at the Americus Welcome Center for a self-guided historical driving tour.

You’ll drive around Americus’ Historic District to see beautiful Victorian and early 20th century homes and learn about the vast architecture in Americus along with the notable people who lived in these fine residences.

17. Stop in at the Americus Welcome Center

The Americus Welcome Center is a great place to stop in and get acquainted with the city.

Housed inside the Italian Renaissance-style Americus Municipal Building, this location was originally the US Post Office and offices for federal agencies.

When you visit today, you can shop their souvenirs and check out their small exhibits and interesting local artifacts. Pick up a brochure based on your interests and set out exploring the rest of Americus!

Americus Things to Do Map

Ready to visit Americus, GA? Use the map below to find all the fun things to do in Americus listed in this post.

I hope you have a great time exploring all of Americus’ fun art and history!

Americus FAQ

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Cheers!

Paige

What are your favorite things to do in Americus, Georgia? Let me know in the comments below!