Most days, Athena Frederick goes grocery shopping and picks up her grandson from school without ever getting into a car. The same is true of her teenage daughter, who takes herself to and from high school.

That’s possible because she lives in Peachtree City, Ga., a small town just south of Atlanta that started building a network of paths in 1974 that are accessible to golf carts, but not cars. It now extends more than 100 miles, serving 38,000 residents and their more than 11,000 registered carts. Nearly every destination and domicile in the town is accessible via a class of vehicle most Americans regard as a toy.