Greenbrier

The Greenbrier nuclear bunker, West Virginia - darkometer rating : 4 - The formerly secret location of a nuclear bunker that was to house the USA 's Congress if World War Three had broken out. The mere existence of this installation under the grand old resort hotel The Greenbrier and especially its real function were kept secret until 1992. But now it has been declassified and decommissioned and guided tours are offered to visitors/hotel guests. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Thought up during the Eisenhower administration, construction of the bunker began in 1958 and was completed in 1961, i.e. at a crucial time of the Cold War , just before the Cuban missile crisis. The bunker itself was installed beneath a new wing added to the famous Greenbrier hotel – so the building site as such aroused little suspicion. The resulting underground complex turned out to be necessarily huge. It had to have the capacity to accommodate all members of Congress and supplies for several weeks ... for up to 1100 people (!) – so it required copious underground storage facilities. The bunker was maintained in fully operational readiness for over 30 years. All the time complete secrecy was maintained – the existence of the facility was denied, and its entrance at the Greenbrier hotel was well camouflaged. Maintenance staff posed as TV repair personnel for the hotel under a fake company's name. In reality, the place was under secret lease by the government, via an agreement with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company … necessitated by tricky legal matters which to describe in detail would go too far here.