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All the United States West Virginia White Sulphur Springs Congressional Fallout Shelter at the Greenbrier Resort
AO Edited

Congressional Fallout Shelter at the Greenbrier Resort

America's post-nuclear-attack chambers of Congress.

White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

Added By
Leah Caldwell
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The shelter’s blast door   Getty Images/Alex Wong
Greenbrier Resort in 2011.   Richard Rosendale/CC BY-SA 3.0
Communication room   Getty Images/Alex Wong
Decontamination area   Getty Images/Alex Wong
The dining area of the bunker   RoadUnraveled / Atlas Obscura User
Beds inside the fallout shelter   Getty Images/Alex Wong
One of the three blast doors leading to the fallout shelter built for the US Congress in the 1950s underneath the Greenbrier Resort.   User submitted
Hotel lobby   Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress/Public Domain
A mural inside the hotel   Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress/Public Domain
Hotel interior   Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress/Public Domain
Hotel interior   Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress/Public Domain
Indoor pool   Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress/Public Domain
The side view of the Greenbrier Resort.   User submitted
Another awesome adventure thanks to Atlas Obscura   Rindy99 / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the Greenbrier Resort.   User submitted
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About

Known as Project X, Project Casper, and eventually as Project Greek Island, and designed with relative luxury, this congressional fallout shelter remained a state secret until 1992.

In the mid-1950s, the United States government covertly arranged to build a fallout shelter to house the entire U.S. Congress underneath the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Using the building of a new hotel addition—paid for by the Eisenhower administration—as a cover, the government set out to build a Congress deep beneath the ground. As part of this Faustian deal, the five-star hotel agreed that in case of nuclear war—or even just a realistic threat—the entire hotel would be commandeered by the government, hot tubs and all.

A post-nuclear seat of congressional government, this was truly intended to house only the congressmen and their aids. It was not designed to accommodate their spouses or children, who would presumably have to find shelter somewhere else.

To help ensure its secrecy the bunker was operated by a dummy company known as Forsythe Associates and workers on the bunker all dressed as hotel audiovisual employees. Any calls going in and out of the bunker were routed through the hotel switchboard so it looked as if they originated from and were going to the Resort.

The shelter was fully equipped and among the standard bunk beds, televisions, and furniture that populate the "Graceland of Atomic Tourism," there are a few very curious items. Among these are a special room meant for holding and calming members of Congress who can't handle the stress, and an incinerator meant for "pathological waste," or the Congresspeople's irradiated bodies. A huge 100-foot radio tower installed approximately four miles away was connected to the bunker so that the congressmen could broadcast emergency messages.

Completed in 1958, the shelter is no longer operative since its location was revealed in a 1992 Washington Post article.

Currently, the shelter houses the offices of a data storage company, but for three decades it was fully stocked with food, furniture, and even current magazines. The shelter even had two mock chambers of Congress, complete with flags, microphones, and pictures of the founding fathers, all equipped to carry on U.S. government operations in case of nuclear war.

There are now guided tours throughout the week.

Related Tags

Bunkers Cold War Nuclear Places To Stay Long Now Locations Subterranean Sites Military

Community Contributors

Added By

LeahC

Edited By

The Awkward Globetrotter, MagnumPI, Meg, Rindy99...

  • The Awkward Globetrotter
  • MagnumPI
  • Meg
  • Rindy99
  • Michelle Cassidy
  • RoadUnraveled

Published

July 15, 2010

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Sources
  • http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/travel/12heads.html
  • http://www.greenbrier.com/
  • http://www.conelrad.com/groundzero/greenbrier.html
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greenbrier
  • http://www.kilroywashere.org/006-Pages/Bunker.html
Congressional Fallout Shelter at the Greenbrier Resort
300 W Main St
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, 24986
United States
37.786116, -80.307526
Get Directions

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