Lincoln statue at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston.
Outside the beautiful Greenbrier Hotel.
The complex also features the Youth Museum with interactive exhibits and a planetarium, while the Mountain Homestead showcases 19th-century Appalachian frontier life with eight reconstructed log cabins including a general store, weaver shedwith a giant loom, and blacksmith shop. “All their time and energy went into survival,” explains an exhibit attendant. The circular Tamarack Market—a Beckley landmark with its red roof and spires—is a shopper’s dream for those wanting authentic West Virginia arts and crafts. In fact, more than 2,800 artisans from the state’s 55 counties sell their goods there—cutting boards in the shape of the state, for example, jewelry, t-shirts, pocketknives, crafted chairs, furniture, and food products. Fine art galleries andworkshops featuring artisan demonstrations are also within the facility standing just a few miles from where Interstate 64 and Interstate 77 merge. East of the National Park and beyond Lewisburg sits The Greenbrier, a colossal 710-room world-class resort with its plush lobbies and lounges. But what may be the most interesting highlight of this National Historic Landmark is what’s buried deep below the hotel’s West Virginia Wing—what was one of the country’s best-kept secrets during the Cold War. Built from 1958-61 during the Eisenhower Administration, the so-called U.S.
Government Relocation Facility remains a remarkably well-preserved maze of tunnels and rooms and is open for tours. Dug 720 feet deep, the facility’s 153 rooms on two floors are where Congress would have slipped away in the event of a real nuclear threat or blast in nearby Washington, D.C. Rooms include 18 dormitories with original bunk beds, a power plant to meet the needs of 1,100 people for 40 days, a 12-bed clinic with an operating room, and a kitchen with a 60-day supply of food. A somewhat cramped auditorium-like chamber is where Congress would have met if an actual nuclear event did occur. The tour, which emphasizes the basic accommodations with little privacy and no luxury, begins by entering though an 18-ton blast door on the hotel’s lower level. Other entrances are secured with massive 25- and 30-ton blast doors. What amazes me most about the Relocation Facility, however, is how it was kept a secret for more than 30 years until the Washington Post exposed the truth in 1992. Employees were sworn to secrecy and, except for congressional leaders, most members of Congress didn’t know about the bunker, says tour guide Ernestine Atkinson. “We’re mountain people and we know how to keep secrets,” she admits. “We’ve been doing this for years.”
VISIT SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA
COAST TO COAST SPRING MAGAZINE 2022
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