Twenty-seven years ago, South Carolina resident, Jody Pendarvis, decided aliens touching down on planet Earth in and around South Carolina needed a warm and welcoming spot to rest upon arrival. So he diligently went to work constructing the world’s first (and only) UFO Welcome Center. Today, the official UFO Welcome Center has attained world-wide acclaim and visitors who aren’t from outer space (that we know of) have turned the facility into a bizarre roadside attraction.

It also helps that the UFO Welcome Center is a mere five miles from the Bowman, South Carolina, exit of Interstate 26, making it a quick diversion from any road trip for those heading east or west on the busy interstate.
Google Maps
If you have yet to haul yourself off the interstate at the Bowman exit to go take a peek at the UFO Welcome Center, then you're in for a fun surprise.
Google/Swampfox Anderson
Pendarvis designed the welcome center to resemble a UFO.
Google/Carlos Gomez
Construction originally included the bottom portion of the structure, which measures 42 feet in diameter.
Later, Pendarvis added a small flying saucer-like structure to the top of the welcome center and built himself a living quarters inside the new section. Reportedly, Pendarvis claimed this new living quarters was cooler in the summer than his nearby trailer.
Google/Natalia Bonavia
Whether anyone lives there today is unknown.

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Happening upon the oddball flying saucer along the road in Bowman is a happy surprise. It's nearly impossible to just drive right on by without getting out to wander around.
Google/Kurt
Originally, there was a small fee to enter, but now there's just a donation box for those who want to support the upkeep of the Welcome Center.
TripAdvisor/Becki E
Each year, there are dozens of UFO sightings over South Carolina reported to the National UFO Reporting Center.
Google/Zhou Frank
Oddly enough, in the last several years, not a single UFO sighting was reported from Bowman, where the UFO Welcome Center is located. Odd, indeed.
Perhaps the UFOS and aliens landing here flip on an invisibility cloak upon entering the atmosphere...
Google/Sharyn Bovat
Has your curiosity ever prompted you to visit the world's only UFO Welcome Center located right here in South Carolina?
Google/Lacy 007

Let us know in the comments! Know of another bizarre roadside attraction in the Palmetto State? Tell us all about it!

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UFO Welcome Center, Homestead Road, Bowman, SC, USA