Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Oak Ridge - Atlas Obscura

Unusual
Attractions
in Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge "The Secret City"

The secret city built by the Manhattan Project.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

B-1 Flat Top in Oak Ridge

One of the Cemestos prefab homes built to secretly house thousands of Manhattan Project workers.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The Prophet of Oak Ridge's Grave

John Hendrix predicted the creation of the "Secret City" built as part of the Manhattan Project.

Are we missing something unusual in Oak Ridge?

Clinton, Tennessee

Whirlwind Mansion

This Tennessee manse was built so opulent that the very utilities doomed it to fail.

5 miles from Oak Ridge

Clinton, Tennessee

Clinton 12 Statue at Green McAdoo Cultural Center

A bronze sculpture honors the 12 black students who attended the first integrated public high school in the segregated South.

9 miles from Oak Ridge

Petros, Tennessee

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary

This former maximum-security prison is creepy, sobering, and supposedly haunted.

11 miles from Oak Ridge

Clinton, Tennessee

Asa Jackson’s Perpetual Motion Machine

This improbable contraption was passed down through five generations of industrious Tennesseans.

16 miles from Oak Ridge

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Stories
About Oak Ridge

At the sprawling K-25 complex in Oak Ridge, employees worked with enriched uranium.

How the Manhattan Project's Nuclear Suburb Stayed Secret

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, once home to 75,000, went up fast and under the radar. But it was built to last, too.

by Jessica Leigh Hester