Greenbrier Attractions

[genlock]

What about this, Rockman?

PENCE SPRINGS, W.Va.

Troubled high school girls from all over the country are coming to Summers County to develop their minds, spirits and learn about healthy relationships.
The Greenbrier Academy for Girls opened in September at the Pence Springs Hotel.

[Lester]

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

[Bob Campbell]

I'm good for gas money.

[Hoosier Daddy]

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

"Bad girls, bad girls ... what'cha gonna do?
What'cha gonna do when we come for you ?!??! ..."

[Force Commander]

Does anybody know if the Greenbrier atomic bunker still give tours? I had heard it stopped in preparation for a possible casino, but can't find anything either way in an online search.

[Chris Lawrence]

The casino idea was crushed by local voters. They've now converted most of the old bunker into an area for data storage for huge corporations. They've taken many relics from the old bunker and consolidated them into a mini-museum. I was there when they restarted the tours which included a walk through the blast doors, down a long corridor.. Through a deconamination unit where they said members of Congress would have to shower and put on brown pants and a white tee-shirt. (I found it amusing that overstuffed blow hards from Capitol Hill would be placed in working man's clothing). Then into two rooms that included a bunk bed, locker, and EXAMPLES of all the different systems that would have been used in the event of the Big One.

They also showed the little room with cameras to broadcast to folks back home with beautiful Washington landscapes in the background--one in the fall and one in the spring. Guess this is where the propoganda would have originated.

We also saw the cafeteria--which is now a culinary school and a big room for which I didn't understand the purpose. It was part of the bunker that was actually in use for fancy pants balls and such. Now it's a convention center for trade shows and such. Interesting thing there is that the entrance is a four foot thick steel blast door---but it's hidden and largely disgused with wallpaper so that you wouldn't notice it.

Most of the true bunker however is now being used for money making ventures.

[LoU fRoM pRiSoN]

Most of the true bunker however is now being used for money making ventures.

Troubled high school girls...

I hAd ThIs IdEa BaCk In '81 BuT fAiLeD tO sEe It To FrUiTiOn.

[amayo]

LOU!!

How's prison?....where ya been?

[lastone]

Chris, the "big room" was where "Congress" was to assemble.


It is said the "newer" bunker (that doesn't exist) is north east of Dullas and has Metro rail to the entrance. I do remember the tracks 'take a dive ' and turn off east by 395 and the beltway.

[Rock]

Does anybody know if the Greenbrier atomic bunker still give tours? I had heard it stopped in preparation for a possible casino, but can't find anything either way in an online search.

From the Greenbrier Marketing dept:

'We give bunker tours daily to registered and non-registered guests. From now until March, they are at 1:30 daily, advance reservations required. The cost is discounted in Jan-Mar. so the rate is $20 per adult and $10 per child (ages 10-18). During April-December, we will have more tours available daily and the cost will be $30 per adult.

For all of the details, you can also go to http://www.greenbrier.com/site/activiti ... x?cid=2035.'

Hope that helps.

[Chris Lawrence]

The reason the Greenbrier was selected was apparently the fact that it was owned by CSX and at the time it would have provided adequate rail service direct from DC.

It's also funny that nobody ever noticed that the tiny airport in White Sulphur had the LONGEST RUNWAY IN WEST VIRGINIA. Everybody just assumed it was to take care of the posh and pampered with their big old airplanes. It was actually to accomodate waves of Congress folk rounded up when THE BIG ONE hit.

The whole cloak and dagger cover is really interesting. The guys in charge of day to day bunker operations were employed by a contractor... I think it was the Carlisle Group or something, their "job" was to fix and repair all of the hotel's television sets. There were always raised eyebrows about the salaries of these "tv repairmen" and the shell game played with their w-2's and pension plans. Plus the entire bunker was to be run by generator power which was fueled by a couple of 18,000 gallon diesel tanks (I thinkt that's the correct amount). Auditors and unaware Greenbrier beancounters would always raise seven degrees of hell when it was revealed the hotel bought 40-thousand gallons of diesel fuel and had only one service truck in the entire motor pool that was diesel.

Ted Kleisner says that's actually how he was brought into the "circle of trust" when he started investigating all of thise diesel fuel being bought by the resort. He was assuming somebody was running a local construction firm and the Greenbrier was footing their fuel bill. Which, given the way the state of West Virginia runs--that's not a far fetched suspicion.

[Chris Lawrence]

The reason the Greenbrier was selected was apparently the fact that it was owned by CSX and at the time it would have provided adequate rail service direct from DC.

It's also funny that nobody ever noticed that the tiny airport in White Sulphur had the LONGEST RUNWAY IN WEST VIRGINIA. Everybody just assumed it was to take care of the posh and pampered with their big old airplanes. It was actually to accomodate waves of Congress folk rounded up when THE BIG ONE hit.

The whole cloak and dagger cover is really interesting. The guys in charge of day to day bunker operations were employed by a contractor... I think it was the Carlisle Group or something, their "job" was to fix and repair all of the hotel's television sets. There were always raised eyebrows about the salaries of these "tv repairmen" and the shell game played with their w-2's and pension plans. Plus the entire bunker was to be run by generator power which was fueled by a couple of 18,000 gallon diesel tanks (I thinkt that's the correct amount). Auditors and unaware Greenbrier beancounters would always raise seven degrees of hell when it was revealed the hotel bought 40-thousand gallons of diesel fuel and had only one service truck in the entire motor pool that was diesel.

Ted Kleisner says that's actually how he was brought into the "circle of trust" when he started investigating all of thise diesel fuel being bought by the resort. He was assuming somebody was running a local construction firm and the Greenbrier was footing their fuel bill. Which, given the way the state of West Virginia runs--that's not a far fetched suspicion.

[genlock]

Another tip-off was the AT&T service to the resort. I asked once at WSAZ how they got a golf match out of there in the 1960's (before satellite). I was told then by a WSAZ engineer that the bunker was there. That was in 1967 or 8, I think. AT&T Long Lines had Microwave service directly into the resort from a site high up on the mountain.

Some of th info is here:

http://www.drgibson.com/towers/

Really Geeky.

[Chris Lawrence]

There was always a rumor about the bunker.....like lots of stuff during the cold war but everybody passed it off as crazy talk and the tin foil hat crowd....you know like Spike and Paul in the early years (He He)

[Force Commander]

The guys in charge of day to day bunker operations were employed by a contractor... I think it was the Carlisle Group or something, their "job" was to fix and repair all of the hotel's television sets. There were always raised eyebrows about the salaries of these "tv repairmen" and the shell game played with their w-2's and pension plans. Plus the entire bunker was to be run by generator power which was fueled by a couple of 18,000 gallon diesel tanks (I thinkt that's the correct amount).

Here is a couple of links explaining the story. I interviewed Fritz Bugas on the phone years ago about the bunker. This link matches the story he told me so I believe it to be legit.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/sfeat ... rview.html

Another link about the bunker:

http://www.conelrad.com/groundzero/greenbrier.html

[Dave Loudin]

Chris, the "big room" was where "Congress" was to assemble.


It is said the "newer" bunker (that doesn't exist) is north east of Dullas and has Metro rail to the entrance. I do remember the tracks 'take a dive ' and turn off east by 395 and the beltway.

That junction was for a line that was never built down Columbia Pike in Arlington.

[AmpedNow]

Chris, the "big room" was where "Congress" was to assemble.


It is said the "newer" bunker (that doesn't exist) is north east of Dullas and has Metro rail to the entrance. I do remember the tracks 'take a dive ' and turn off east by 395 and the beltway.

That junction was for a line that was never built down Columbia Pike in Arlington.

How's that Metro link to Dulles going? They've played political football with that proposal for at least 10 years now.

Maybe it's already built...

[cgarison]

Chris, the "big room" was where "Congress" was to assemble.


It is said the "newer" bunker (that doesn't exist) is north east of Dullas and has Metro rail to the entrance. I do remember the tracks 'take a dive ' and turn off east by 395 and the beltway.

That junction was for a line that was never built down Columbia Pike in Arlington.

How's that Metro link to Dulles going? They've played political football with that proposal for at least 10 years now.

Maybe it's already built...

Do you know how much traffic that get off the streets of Falls Church, Tyson's Corner, Reston, and Herndon? That place is so bad to travel by car.

[Tom Taggart]

About six months or so after the story broke in the New York Times, we had a tour of the bunker at the annual WVBA meeting.

The official claim was that the bunker was no longer stocked or maintained, that the Greek Island project had been abandoned years before. Hence the New York Times story was old news. However, along that long main tunnel into the place there were cases and cases of freeze dried food. With "current" expiration dates.

CSX uses the bunker for records storage, so you no longer see some of the more interesting stuff that was in place when the bunker was first opened. The big generators are still there (three of them) and look well maintained.

[genlock]

With Congress to be there for an extended period of time during a war, how big was the booze storage warehouse. Hell, just for Teddy Kennedy you might need a boxcar.