The Sapelo Island Visitor Center is located at 1766 Landing Road Southeast, Darien, GA 31305, the mainland ferry dock in Meridian, and serves as a key distribution point for information about how coastal ecosystems link to research and monitoring, educational opportunities, and tourism activities such as public and group tours.

Located on the Georgia coast midway between the Savannah and St. Marys rivers, Sapelo Island is one of the largest of the chain of barrier islands that fringe the south Atlantic seaboard from South Carolina to northeast Florida. The state-owned island is bounded by Sapelo Sound on the north, Doboy Sound to the south, Blackbeard Island and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Duplin River to the west. The 16,500-acre island is the fourth largest barrier island on the Georgia coast. The 6,100 acres of the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve (SINERR), located along the western perimeter of Sapelo, is dedicated to research, education, stewardship, and sound management of coastal resources. The Reserve’s outreach and research initiatives focus on the island’s natural ecosystems and the cultural and historical resources of Sapelo Island and the greater Altamaha River estuary.