During the Cold War, West Virginia’s luxury resort kept a huge secret. Read on to find out what it was.
You’d never know to look at it, but inside The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Spring there’s a massive bomb shelter that was meant to house the 500-plus members of Congress in the event of a nuclear attack during the Cold War.
LCW0684/Tripadvisor
The Bunker is located in the mountainside beneath the hotel’s West Virginia Wing. For years, only a handful of people knew about it. Not even the resort’s historian knew.
Postcard image via Melissa/Flickr
The Bunker’s walls are made of concrete 3 feet deep. Its air intake system was meant to filter out radiation. This image is from a postcard given to visitors who take the tour.
Postcard image via Melissa/Flickr
The space is about the same size as a Walmart – about 100,000 square feet.
Paul K./tripadvisor \
This is an image from the Bunker’s construction. It was top secret for 30 years until an investigative reporter from the Washington Post reported on it in the early 1990s. Were it not for that, the Bunker might still be secret.
Postcard image via Melissa/Flickr
The Bunker had bunkbeds for congressmen to sleep in. It kept a 6-month supply of food that was refreshed from time to time.
Post card image via Melissa/Flickr
Though it was a top secret then, it’s open for tours now. It also has meeting rooms, which were added in 2006 and named for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate as well as the architect of the Capitol when the Bunker project started in 1956 - Knowland, Johnson, Rayburn, Stewart, and Martin.
Melissa/Flickr
Since this was was exposed years ago, there is another secret bunker for Congress now, but only a handful of people know where that is.
supermagictasticguy/Tripadvisor
You can find out more about the Greenbrier’s Bunker here and here.
LCW0684/Tripadvisor
Postcard image via Melissa/Flickr
Postcard image via Melissa/Flickr
Paul K./tripadvisor
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Post card image via Melissa/Flickr
Melissa/Flickr
supermagictasticguy/Tripadvisor
Have you been on the tour of this bunker? What did you think?
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