My first stop at Paynes Prairie was the visitors center.
I made a quick stop late in the day and only had 15 minutes before it closed. Most visitor centers I have been to are jammed up against, or at least within sight of the parking lot. Not so with this visitor center. You will catch not even a glimpse of it from the parking lot. It is only after you take this paved trail which winds through a woods of Laurel Oak, and then drops nearly to Prairie level that you will see the center.