Souther Field, now known as Jimmy Carter Regional Airport, is one of the oldest airports in the United States, and was instrumental as a flight training school in both world wars.  In 1917, Sumter County purchased what was dubbed the world’s largest peach orchard and deeded it to the United States government. The site was named Souther Field, for army aviation pioneer Maj. Henry Souther (1865-1917).  A surplus sale brought a young and unknown Charles Lindbergh to Americus, where he bought his first plane, a Curtis JN4 “Jenny” for $500. Not yet a pilot when he came to Americus in May 1923, Lindbergh had performed wing-walking stunts and parachuting in an aerial circus. In the three weeks he spent here, he learned to fly and made his first solo flight; a lone African-American man was the only witness. Former U. S. Attorney General Griffin B. Bell led the effort to erect this monument to Georgia’s most important moment in aviation history. Nationally respected sculptor and UGA professor William J. Thompson was commissioned to create the monument.