Georgia Welcome Center — Attraction in Port Wentworth

This review is not for the welcome center it is for the Georgia state police, which they censor and dont let you have free speech of your experiences...I find that crazy and only protective of the police and not citizens...so incredibly scary. Let's just say I will never return to Georgia because of in my opinion an officer just looking for money and not serving or protecting citizens from true reckless drivers just easy targets. Of course you didn't chase down the sports car weaving 100 miles in and out of traffic pull over the family mini van keeping up with the flow of traffic?? Safety 1st right officer? I started recording to show how fast everyone was going. We were in the middle lane and cars from both sides were coming around us and peeling off into the distance. I showed him just sitting there not pulling anyone over. From the speed we were going no joke I would say they were going a good 20 miles over. In my opinion they do not serve and protect. They just want quotas and money. And to silence citizens is even more frightening. My opinion and my personal experience i think absolutely corruption. I believe part of the reason people dislike police is because instead of actually dealing with real danger and crime. I feel like they just harass. Seriously i think people should love the police, right? But from what i hear and how they wont let you review, i think that says something. So disappointed in their so called justice system. It should be we just want money and that sports car are already miles away so the family driving back 20 hrs from florida is an easy target. Let's get the real danger guys....ps i personally saw most accidents in georgia prolly for this exact reason...I will not spend a dime in this state and would feel very unsafe to live there. I've seen how the police, police and my personal feelings is they don't. All my personal experiences and feelings. That I feel like they tried to censor which again I believe is very scary. So in my opinion they can do whatever they want and you can't stand up for yourself. I dont believe that's...

The last time I came down this route was in 2016. At that time, the Georgia Welcome Center was closed for a full renovation, with a new building in the works and such. The next time I came through this welcome center was on August 23, 2022.

Coming up to the welcome center, the road is basically a big circle around the building for car parking. They have plenty of parking spaces available, including an ample amount of handicapped parking as well. You can see the building is fairly new from the outside. The inside would be no different as well. Coming inside, the welcome center staff are to the left, and the restrooms are straight ahead in the Savannah theming of the welcome center. Restrooms were clean and well maintained.

When you come inside, you are immediately immersed in the different areas of the state. Hands down, this is probably one of my favorite welcome centers now because of this. The place is beautifully themed for the different parts of the state, including trees for the Savannah Area, St. Simon's Lighthouse in the Golden Isles, and more. For the St. Simon's Lighthouse in the welcome center, you can press the button to hear the lighthouse, as well as see the Fresnel lens from the lighthouse. Be sure to walk around to the various sections, that are broken out by part of the state. It's a great quick learning experience of what Georgia has to offer. Vending items are also available here too.

On the outside, there are plenty of areas to stretch your legs, move around and more. There is quite a bit of open space. There is the Blue Star Memorial sign at this welcome center as well.

Overall, if your travels take you along Interstate 95 South into the state of Georgia, you definitely need to stop at this welcome center. There is too much to offer here to skip it. The experience here was excellent. I am sure yours...

PROS: New, no expense spared welcome center, with tall interior atrium ceiling and spaciousness. A place for a pit stop, and get local info, which is what it's intended to do. Clean, modern design mix of wood beams and stone.

CONS: The exterior is completely unwelcoming. Dark tinted windows, barren landscaping. Very institutional or secretly corporate feeling. No warm and fuzzies here. Very poorly designed flow. As you drive in, you're herded towards the front parking lot where the main entrance is. Once you get there and if it after hours, you are faced with locked doors with limited signage on how to get to the restroom. You have to walk a looong way around the building to the back where the restrooms are. (imagine if you are elderly or disabled or really have to go!) The restrooms themselves were clean & bright from what I saw.

They have these fancy Dyson faucets / taps with integrated left and right hand dryers in each faucet. They wouldn't look out of place as a steering helm on the Starship Enterprise. They are so fancy, they need to post instructions on how to use them. Seriously, if you need to post instructions on how to use a hand dryer, you made the wrong choice. I hope they were a corporate donation because they are $1900 a pop. $1900 to wash and dry your hands. Do the math x5 sinks x2 men's and women's washroom (estimate), that's $19,000 in faucets/dryers alone. I don't think my hands came out any cleaner or dryer then at other rest stops. While Dyson is known for their robust power, the blast was so powerful it splashed dirty sink water from the (too) shallow sink onto my chest and face. Icky and not good. I'm just glad it's not my tax dollars. I'd rather they spend $ on keeping it open longer or something low tech like better directional signage so people didn't have to walk so much. Heck, I'll even wipe my hands...