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The Bunker is Unlocked at the Greenbrier

Where: 300 W. Main Street [map], White Sulpher Springs, WV, United States, 24986

August 21, 2006 at 9:58 AM | 1 Comment

At the Greenbrier, you can play some golf, get a massage, go bowling, and...see an underground bunker that looks like it came right out of Dr. Strangelove.

If you'd like to see the place where key U.S. government figures have gone into not-so-secret hiding in a bunker, you're in luck. The Greenbrier resort, long the place where presidents could be whisked away when there was threat of an attack, has opened up its historic bunker areas for public tours, as of August 20.

You can walk through the steel vault doors. You can see the advanced communication room used to monitor every nook and cranny of the place. You can marvel at the probe designed to monitor the outside air after a nuclear attack. Tour the meeting room designed to hold the whole House of Representatives and see the dorms where they would have slept.

The 90-minute tours are $30 per adult, $15 per child ages 10-18. Each tour has a guide--but it won't be Dick Cheney.

The Greenbrier is a renowned institution, bringing guests to the middle of nowhere, West Virginia since 1778. It's not for an intimate getaway: there are 802 rooms and three golf courses. But with nearly 230 years of history, it's safe to say they've got the service thing fine-tuned by now. So go check out a bit of creepy paranoid history, then forget about the troubles of the world in the 38,000 square-foot spa.

Just one question might nag the conspriracy theorists though. If this bunker is open to the public, where's the real one now? Hmmmm....

Related Stories:
· Greenbrier Reviews [TripAdvisor]