Welcome Centers

Mississippi's Welcome Centers are state treasures that hum along under the radar of most residents. There are twelve of them, believe it or not, situated to cover most routes into Mississippi. They came about in the mid 1960s, with the advent of interstate highways and Lady Bird Johnson's push for the Highway Beautification Act. And, those of us who remember when people threw anything and everything out their car windows and never gave it a second thought will be ever grateful to Mrs. Johnson for helping eradicate that blight on our national face.

The centers themselves are lovely, elegantly furnished places. They're all different, but all built to resemble the antebellum homes so closely associated with Mississippi in most visitors' minds. They're staffed 8-5, seven days a week, and they're a wealth of free information on the state and what's going on. Stop in next time you see one, even (or especially) if you have one in your area. They're listed below by county as that's how they are known, but the towns (and sometimes a little more information) is listed to give you a better idea of exactly where the center is.

Alcorn - Corinth
Itawamba - Tremont (Fulton)
Desoto - Hernando
Delma Furniss - Lula (Highways 49 & 61)
Washington - Greenville
Warren - Vicksburg
Lauderdale - Toomsuba
Adams - Natchez
Pike - Magnolia
Pearl River - Picayune
Hancock - Pearlington (Gulf Coast)
Jackson - Moss Point

For more info, check out www.visitmississippi.org and click on Welcome Centers.