About Sylvania Historic Welcome Center
The Sylvania Historic Welcome Center, located on U.S. Highway 301 half a mile from the South Carolina border, is the oldest operating state visitor center in the United States, opened in 1962. Designed by Statesboro architect Edwin C. Eckles in a midcentury modern style, it features barrel vault ceilings, an aluminum and glass façade, and native Georgia materials like Etowah pink marble and pecan wood. It remains the only original visitor center of its kind in Georgia and is still favored by travelers avoiding interstates.
Behind the center, a six-acre grounds includes ten picnic tables and two grills for public use. The center is the only one in the state that continues to offer free Coca-Cola products and Georgia peanuts to visitors. Nearby landmarks include the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers, Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area, and the Revolutionary War site of the Battle of Brier Creek, with historical ties to the 1750s German settlement of New Goettingen.