The rest area contains restaurants, gas stations, a video arcade, motel, truck stop, a small amusement park, a mini golf course, shopping, fireworks stores, and a motocross training complex.

There are areas that bring to mind the photography of William Eggleston, the cinematography of David Lynch, and the gas station art of Ed Ruscha.

[10] Nearby Dillon was once known as "The "Wedding Capital of the East" because South Carolina allowed people as young as 14 to get married and did not have other requirements.

Schafer continued to deny his attraction was racist, citing the fact that he was known for hiring African Americans, and even helping them to vote, and standing up to the Ku Klux Klan.

[3] Schafer eventually created Pedro, an exaggerated, cartoon-like representation of a Mexican bandit, to add to the exotic element and theme of the attraction.

[6][16][15][18] P. Nicole King described Pedro's likeness as a "southern Jewish guy in brown face" that was perhaps made, partially, in Schafer's image.

He stops at a fireworks market called Fort Pedro, which leads him into the story of the most memorable Fourth of July during his childhood in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana.

The opening scene of Season 3, Episode 5 of Eastbound & Down shows characters Eduardo Sanchez Powers and Casper robbing a Mexican store leading the viewers to believe they were still in Mexico.

[23] In the movie Forces of Nature (1999), starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck, the main characters stop at South of the Border as passengers on a tour bus.