Cooperative Tourism
The New Bedford Welcome Center
Shared Costs and Successes
by Ronald D. Driskill, AIA
The author is the vice president.
The new Bedford Welcome Center is the
pride of both the city and the county.
The new Bedford Welcome Center
is more than the typical visitor’s center commonly found in
many of Virginia’s cities and towns. Some have even
suggested that the Bedford Welcome Center is the flagship for
future visitor centers throughout the Commonwealth.
SHARED CENTER
The name “welcome center” was
penned jointly by the Bedford city and county officials to
describe their vision of the facility—a center that would
be shared by visitors as well as local citizens, community
groups, and businesses. This was to be a center that welcomes
visitors and informs them about Bedford’s past, present, and
future. The center would also inform visitors about nearby
points of interest, local industry, and commercial endeavors as
well as providing space for local merchant displays and community
functions. Two critical aspects that the city and county
officials stressed were that the center be designed to embody
Bedford’s pastoral heritage while projecting a
progressive attitude towards the future and provide vistas
focusing on the adjacent National D-Day Memorial and Blue Ridge
Mountains. These visions were met by the
willingness of government and community
leaders, architects, builders, and tourism personnel working
together as a team.
The center cost $1.7 million. Half was
paid through federal transportation grants and the remainder was
split between the city and county. Former Bedford County Administrator
Bill Rolfe summed it up when he said, “Bedford tourism
and the new welcome center are testament to what local
government can accomplish working together.”
FROM DOUBLE WIDE
TO COUNTRY SIDE
TO COUNTRY SIDE
The new welcome center replaced a double
wide modular unit that had served as the temporary visitor center.
The modular unit was uninviting and small. Tour groups were not
encouraged to stop because the modular unit could not
accommodate large groups. The new facility, however, is 10,700
square feet and designed in a cruciform shape to provide four
building wings. Each wing performs a particular function. The
community