The Secret Behind the Cellar Door
Exclusive Behind the Scenes at the Covington Regional Visitor Information Center
NOTE: Visitors of the Welcome Center will not be granted access to the basement level of the building. The Hideaway at Mystic Falls was graciously granted special permission access so that we could share this information with our readers. Please respect the center’s policy and refrain from asking for access, or attempting to gain access, to this restricted area.
Imagine stumbling upon a shrine to The Vampire Diaries Universe curated by the most OBSESSED TVDU superfan ever. Room after room is filled with screen-used props, artfully arranged as if plucked from the set, and cordoned off by red ropes. In one corner a tribute to the Mikaelson family boasts ornately framed portraits of Papa (Mikael) Mikaelson, Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah. In another, the Mystic Falls High School spirit is memorialized. And if you want to pay your respects to the Gilberts or other dearly departed residents of Mystic Falls, you can gaze upon the Mystic Falls Cemetery, complete with entryway arch and an actual stone crypt that took a crane to move. From Elena’s cream lace high school graduation dress to her casket; to Damon’s bathtub, bedroom and blue 1969 Camaro; to Stefan’s vault, a mummified “head” from Jardin Gris Voodoo shop; to Bonnie’s (and Gram’s) grimoire, and Caroline’s wedding dress, if it was screen-featured in The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, or Legacies (and Warner Bros didn’t keep it for their personal archives), chances are you’re going to find it here at 1143 Oak Street SE in Covington, GA, aka Mystic Falls.
This insanely epic tribute to the TVD Universe isn’t in a TikTok influencer’s house (although I’m sure plenty wish it was), it’s in the Covington Welcome Center, which is open to the public free of charge, Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. With two levels, ample air conditioning, clean restrooms, and charging stations for EVs and cell phones, the Welcome Center is a haven for hardcore TVD fans visiting the area.
It’s a bright, blistering, Georgia day when I stop in to chat with Ron Carter, Covington Regional Visitor Information Center Coordinator. Perched behind the Welcome Center desk, and bubbling with his trademark southern hospitality, Carter regales me with the Welcome Center’s Cinderella story, going from 14,833 visitors in 2010 to over 100,000 visitors in 2023. When I asked Carter why he thinks there was a sudden surge in visits to the area, he posits, “My best guess is that during the pandemic, there was a renewed interest in the shows since people were confined to their homes and they could stream the series. A whole new generation fell in love!” he goes on to explain, “The original Welcome Center just had a few items related to the TVD Universe. When we started noticing an increase in tourists visiting Covington specifically because The Vampire Diaries was filmed in and around our town square, we knew we were going to need a bigger building!”
The Welcome Center, tripling the size of its former location, opened to the public in April of 2020. While the Center also features displays dedicated to Covington’s rich history with television and film, including “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “In the Heat of the Night,” Carter estimates that about 80% of guest are coming to see the more than three-quarters of the items on display that come from the Julie Plec trilogy series starring Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Kat Graham, Candice King, Michael Trevino, Persia White, Joseph Morgan, Claire Holt, Zach Roerig, Matt Davis, Daniel Gillies, Charles Michael Davis, Danielle Marie Campbell, Jasmine Guy, and so many others who portrayed fans’ beloved vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids and tribrids.
“After they wrapped Legacies, Warner Bros invited us to the sound stages in Conyers to collect the furniture and props they were donating to the Welcome Center. We took three U-Haul truck loads-worth!” Carter recalls. “The Welcome Center owes a massive thank you to both Warner Bros and Vampire Stalkers for their generosity and unwavering support!”
Delving into the rich history of the current Welcome Center’s location, Carter explains, “Before the building became our Welcome Center, it was the site of the first women’s college in Newton County, then the City of Covington School, and in the 1950s it was the City Hall, housing city offices, along with the fire and police departments.” I glance over Carter’s shoulder, noticing the cellar door to the Salvatore mansion. “There are still original jail cells down there,” he notes.
While the basement of the Welcome Center is off-limits to the general public, Carter agrees to give me a private tour. I trail him down two flights of stairs—no daylight ring required here—into the bowels of the building’s basement where the electricity buzzes and pipes groan. We breeze past an alcove with a closet that Carter references as the former evidence room. I peek in, using my cellphone light to see a plastic-covered garment with a piece of paper pinned to it that says “Katherine.” Another says “Bonnie.” Carter notices me lagging and explains that this is where they house the show’s costumes when they are not on display. I came for the cells, but I’m here for the costumes.
After reassuring me we can come back and look at length, I follow Carter down a narrow cinderblock hall, turn a corner and find myself in the women’s cell block. To my right are the remnants of a basic shower with a metal bench. Immediately next to the shower is the first of two cells. I step in through the iron bars–not daring to pull them shut behind me–and marvel at the metal bunk bed frame. “Can you imagine two people being stuck in here?” Carter asks.
I briefly linger in the second cell before following my guide back down the hallway, past the evidence room filled with costumes, through an open area where I spot a Mystic Falls City Hall plaque resting against a sofa that–while missing an arm–appears to be from the Salvatore mansion. “They had to remove the arm from the couch to access the camera angle they wanted,” Carter explains as he breezes onward, toward the men’s cell block.
As we cross the threshold into the next room, Carter points out the prisoner intake area, and thrums his fingers on the protective metal door that leads to where the cells are located. To the left is a room he tells me was used for solitary confinement. Just four cinder block walls, it’s as claustrophobic as you’d imagine. As we turn to leave, I notice the slot in the door just big enough for a tray of food. An original metal plaque at the top of the door reads: Manly Jail Works Builders, Dalton, GA.
Passing through another metal door, we enter a long corridor lined with three jail cells on the right. While the black bars remain resolute, the interior of these cells have been updated to use for storage, so there are no tin beds. It’s as dim and daunting as a jail in any scary movie and I’m relieved to return to the main area and explore the props and costumes I spotted on the way in.
There’s so much here it’s hard to focus. Leaning against the wall there’s a Welcome to Mystic Falls sign and a Whitmore College sign, among others that I can’t easily view. On top of a table there’s a box of masquerade ball masks. A stone pedestal–most likely styrofoam–engraved with the Salvatore “S,” stands guard. I peek around the corner into side storage rooms and find Caroline’s wedding chairs, a box of graduation caps, an abandoned parking sign that states, “Legacies Lane 2 Cast Only Main Street Testing.”
It’s absolutely epic and I want to spend 10 more hours down here with flashlights and a fully charged phone. But it’s dark, my battery’s running out, and I want to leave before I outstay my welcome so that maybe–one day–I can come back.
Before we head back upstairs, Carter pulls several costumes out of the closet for me, hangs them on a door so I can gawk in the glory of the basement’s full fluorescent lights. He shows me Caroline’s dress–the blue one with the coral belt and trim, Katherine’s leather jacket, Davina’s lacey blouse, Bonnie’s black cropped jacket, a red dress from the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, one of Damon’s shirts, and one of Stefan’s.
As we make our way back upstairs, I’m thinking about the expansiveness of the collection. I decide the crypt is my favorite item, because of its sheer magnitude and permanence. I ask Carter if he has a favorite, and he pauses on the landing of the second flight of stairs to think. “Freya’s coffin,” he answers, “I always said that I was going out of here in a pine box. Until Freya’s glass coffin came in. I’d be dead 6 months before I’d fit into it, but I’ve decided I’m gonna lay in state in Freya’s coffin. I’ll be here forever. I’ll never leave!”
Marveling at this man’s generous spirit, insatiable curiosity, and incredible wealth of knowledge, I hope he never does.