Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional details.
The memorial services leading to the burial of former President Jimmy Carter will be a carefully scripted affair, from Plains to Atlanta to Washington and back again to Plains.
It will unfold over several days, culminating on Jan. 9, when a state funeral will be held at Washington National Cathedral before Carter is buried later the same day in his hometown Plains.
The former president died Sunday. He was 100 years old. He will be buried next to Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years, who died in November 2023.
The days immediately after his death have been set aside to family and friends in Plains, the small southwestern Georgia town where he was born in 1924.
The state funeral procession will begin Saturday morning, when a motorcade will set out from nearby Americus with Carter’s remains, according to details released Monday.
The motorcade will stop in Plains before continuing to Atlanta, where it will stop at the state Capitol. The former president will then be transported to the nearby Carter Presidential Center, where he will lie in repose and mourners can pay their respects from Saturday night until Tuesday morning.
Carter’s remains will then travel by plane to Maryland on Jan. 7 before being transported by motorcade and a horse drawn caisson to the U.S. Capitol. He will lie in state in the Rotunda until the morning of Jan. 9, with the public invited to pay its respects.
The motorcade will then travel to Washington National Cathedral for a funeral service before Carter and his family return to Georgia by plane. A private funeral service will be held that afternoon in Plains at Maranatha Baptist Church. The motorcade will then travel to the Carter family residence, where the former president will be buried in a private ceremony after a U.S. Navy flyover.
President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a eulogy at the funeral service in Washington. Jason Carter, a grandson, also is expected to speak.
Organizers of the funeral procession once envisioned Carter’s remains being transported by train. That idea was scrapped at Carter’s behest.
Biden announced late Sunday that Jan. 9 will be a National Day of Mourning and called on Americans to assemble that day in their respective places of worship to pay homage to Carter. He directed that the U.S. flag be displayed at half-staff at the White House, U.S. government buildings and military posts for 30 days from the day of Carter’s death.
In a subsequent executive order Monday, Biden said all executive departments and agencies of the federal government will be closed Jan. 9. Department and agency heads can keep some offices staffed, though, for national security, defense or other public need.
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