Tuesday October 1 - "Bunker Mentality"

     On this beautiful Fall day, the first day of the government shutdown, we visited "The Bunker" at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia.  The morning had been spent doing wash, cleaning up, and giving the dogs a breather from driving.  We headed off about noon for the short 30 mile drive to the Greenbrier, where we had to park at the railway station as they didn't want RV's at the hotel!

     The Greenbrier is a luxury resort hotel, and had been owned by the C & O Railroad in  1955 when Dwight Eisenhower was President.  It was the height of the cold war, and there was genuine concern about a nuclear holocaust that would decimate Washington DC and eliminate the ability of the government to function.  He made the decision to create an underground "bunker" away from DC for Congress to operate, and in 1958 a secret facility was built adjoining and then incorporated into the Greenbrier Hotel.  It was completed in 1962, just in time for the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Fortunately, it wasn't needed.  A Washington Post reporter "outed" the bunker in 1992, and in 1995 it was closed down and returned to the control of the Greenbrier.  The owners at that time, the railroad now named "CSX", converted the bunker into (a) an integral part of the hotel's convention business, (b) an exceptionally secure and safe digital storage facility, and (c) a moneymaking facility giving 90 minute tours ($30/ticket, reservations only!).
     We were really curious to see this former government secret, so we included it in our revised trip plan after a friend told us it was a "don't miss".  We're glad we did.
     Basically, the architects of the facility had a hill behind the Greenbrier hollowed out, and built a 2 story bunker buried 720 feet into the hillside under the West Virginia wing of the building.  It is surrounded and covered by 3 to 5 feet of reinforced concrete, and then covered with up to 60 feel of dirt.  3 steel doors provide the entrances into the facility - this is a photo of the one we entered, which was disguised with patterned wall paper to keep it hidden from ordinary folks.
     During the walking tour, we saw the work areas for staff, and the two large rooms set up for the Senate and House of Representatives (school desks for each member, similar to what we had in grammar school!).  There were double deck bunks for all the members of Congress, except for the 4 elite members (Senate Majority and Minority leaders, House Speaker and his minority counterpart).  There was a bizarre looking dining room designed to make people uncomfortable eating there, in order to hurry them up as it only held 400 people and they had to plan for 3 sittings at each meal.  Jim thought the best feature about it was what they would have to eat.  Provisions were made to be able to feed 3 meals per day for 60 days to all 1200 people in the bunker.  C-Rations!!  We think Eisenhower had a wicked sense of humor!

    The Greenbrier prohibits cameras and cell phones in the bunker, but they give out postcards at the end of the tour as souvenirs. These two scans of the postcards show the bunker under construction, and how it was situated under the West Virginia wing. 
     What is most amazing about the whole idea of a bunker was that only the 4 leaders of Congress knew about it, and it was such a secret from the world.  Even the employees of the Greenbrier were in the dark, as a security management firm "ran" the facility and supplied the employees.  They all had "cover" jobs, such as electricians or plumbers, and entered through disguised "offices".
     Among other "features" of the facility were the showers that incoming residents would have to go through naked after a nuclear attack, to wash off the radioactive particles.  Their clothes were taken from them and burned.  As our guide said, this would probably be the only place you'd find a member of Congress giving someone the "naked truth."
     Given what has happened in the past 24 hours with our Congress, perhaps it would be a good idea for the government to buy back the bunker, lock Congress inside it with C-rations, and not let them come out until they reach some agreements that don't feature built in crises a few months downline!
     We drove over to Lexington after the tour, and are looking forward to touring here tomorrow!