thesy lvaniatimes .com
Page 12 - Wednesday, June 8, 2022
The Sylvania Times
Sylvania’s 301 Welcome Center is Nation’s Oldest
Dwayne Grice
Special Contributor
The Sylvania Welcome Center is the nation’s oldest, continuously operating Welcome Center. This year they
celebrate 6o years of welcoming visitors to Georgia.
The Welcome Center was the first Georgia Visitor Center to be constructed and is located at 8463 Burton’s Ferry
Hwy. (U.S. Hwy. 301) in Sylvania, Georgia. It is Just across the river, welcoming southbound Hwy. 301 travelers,
entering Georgia from South Carolina. The Welcome Center is about 40 miles north of Statesboro on Hwy. 301.
Before Interstate 95 opened, U.S. Hwy. 301 was the primary corridor for visitors traveling from northern states
to Florida. The 1,099-mile U.S. Hwy. 301 begins in Delaware and ends in Florida.
This made the Sylvania location a perfect place to welcome weary travelers to Georgia. Even though most were
just passing through, it gave travelers an opportunity to experience a little southern hospitality and learn a little
more about what makes Georgia so special.
The Sylvania Welcome Center is managed by Jessica Godbee. Godbee along with Justin Brannen, the assistant
manager, and Sylvania native, operate the center. In addition, there are three part time employees who help wel
come visitors to the center:
Becky Miller, Hilda Boykin
and Danelle Golphin.
We see a lot of familiar fac
es in travelers who come
through annually. They en
joy stopping by to visit with
us and taking a break from
their travels,” said Justin
Brannen. “Many of them
plan their travel schedule so
they can make it here during
our open hours. They prefer
traveling 301 because the
traffic is steady but seldom
heavy.”
Every visitor will step back
in time when they visit the
Welcome Center. They will
find a hospitable, welcom
ing smile, ice cold Coca Cola
product and choice of Geor
gia grown pecans or peanuts as a refreshing snack. All are free as a gift for stopping in.
Travelers also enjoy the clean restrooms and park area to stretch their legs. When asked what the number one thing
people ask for when they stop in Brannen responded, “believe it or not paper maps are still the most requested
item from visitors.”
History of the Welcome Center
The Sylvania welcome center officially opened on January 20,1962, by Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver. Abit
Massey, father of former Georgia Secretary of State Lewis Massey, served as the Commerce Secretary under Gov
ernor Vandiver and helped oversee this project.
Statesboro Architect Edwin Eckles designed the welcome center, which become a prototype for welcome centers
across the state and nation.
The Sylvania Welcome Center is the only one that is still using the original building. In fact, in 2011 it was added
to the National Historic register.
Because of its historic status, the Sylvania Welcome Center and the Plains Visitor Center are operated under the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources and operates as a historic site and a welcome center.
There are eleven visitor centers in Georgia. The remaining nine are all on interstates.
The Sylvania welcome center is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. It is closed on Sunday
and Monday.
They close for only three holidays: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
(.ADA
continued from page 10
Statewide Commerce was
girls champion with 591
points while the SCHS
351 ranked eighth overall.
Social Circle was the boys
champion with 539 points
and the SCHS 249 was 16th
overall. Commerce was the
combined champion with
1,114 points with the SCHS
combined 600 being 10th.
Metter’s combined 720 was
ninth in the state.
It may be noteworthy that
the top three schools (Met-
ter, SCHS, and Claxton) in
the overall Region 3 A stand
ings will all be in Region 3 A
D-l next season while all
schools below them except
for Bryan County will be in
Region 3A D-2. The new
schools in 3A D-l next
season, Savannah High and
Woodville-Tomkins, each
finished last in their current
regions, 3 AAA and 2 AA re
spectively, overall standings
and fared little better in the
separate genders standings.
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