The Greenbrier

Posted by Nathan

On Sunday, August 2nd, Nathan and I headed off to take a tour of the Greenbrier Bunker. On our trip to Cass Scenic Railway and the Radio Observatory in 2007, we had picked up a brochure that described bunker tours. We talked about visiting ever since.

The drive was uneventful and took a couple hours. We were surprised how close the resort was to the Interstate. Following the signs, we rounded the curve and The Greenbrier was on our left. As we pulled into the parking lot, Nathan's Cougar looked out of place parked next to Mercedes, Land Rovers, and BMW's. I easily spotted license plates from a dozen states.

After grabbing a camera, we headed towards the main building. Words cannot describe how impressive this place is! Massive trees shaded the sidewalks. Thick columns helped hold up the green roof. White brick was brightened up by green shutters. We passed a rose garden and a fountain as we made our way to the main entrance.

We admit, our jaws dropped as we entered. Marble floors, soaring windows, flowers, and bright tapestries met our eyes in an explosion of color and warm welcome. We were directed towards the Trellis Room to await our tour. Comfortable chairs and chandeliers were enconsed in a room decorated in shades of cream and light green.

We opted for a restroom break before the tour. While this information would not make a report normally, the bathrooms at The Greenbrier are noteworthy. I entered and expected a normal, albeit, upscale restroom. How wrong I was. A foyer with chaise lounges met my eyes. Walking deeper into the room, I rounded a corner and was met with a row of doors. Opening the closest one to me. I found a personal bathroom larger than most private bathrooms I had ever encountered. Decorated in purple, black, and white, it was beautiful. No paper towels here! I had real cloth hand towels. Nathan reported his bathroom was similar, but was decorated in white, black, and gold.

At the top of the hour, our tour began. First, we had to surrender our cell phones, cameras, and any other electronic devices (more on the reason why later). We were escorted to a small tour bus. We grabbed a seat close to the front and sank deeply into the green velour upholstery. As we drove towards the access point for the bunker, our tour guide explained what the bunker was all about.

The Greenbrier's bunker was officially called the U.S. Government Relocation Facility. It was a top secret of the Cold War and was designed to accomadate the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (the Legislative Branch) in the event of a national emergency. It truly was a giant fall out shelter.

Planned by the Eisenhower Administration, the facility was bult under the Greenbrier between 1958 and 1961. It's location 300 miles from Washington, DC made it this part of West Virginia an ideal location. At 120,000 square feet, something had to be built to cover it (thus keeping it safe from prying eyes). The West Virginia Wing of the Greenbrier was built above the bunker. All told, the bunker is buried 720 feet into the hillside under the West Virginia Wing of the hotel. It is surrounded by ceiling and walls that are three to five feet thick reinforced concrete. In addition, there is 20 to 60 feet of dirt cover between the substructure and the West Virginia Wing.

The bus pulled in a drive a few miles from the main entrance. Our guide told us four entrances to the bunker exist. We were going to enter the west Tunnel Entrance. Covering the entrance was a blast door. Weighing in at 25 tons, it is 12 feet wide, 10 feet high, and 18 inches thick. The two hinges are four feet long, 14 inches wide and eight inches thick. Six openings above the blast door are cut through five feet of concrete and could be closed during operating conditions. It was explained that even though the doors could take a nuclear blast from 25 miles away, they were so perfectly balanced that they only required fifty pounds of pressure to open or close them.

We began walking down the 433 feet long West Tunnel. Empty shelves lined the walls and in the days when the bunker was active, they were lined with enough rations to feed 1100 people for 60 days. Paper supples were routinely traded out and Ivory soap was the brand of choice.

At the end of the tunnel, monitors were installed to check for radiation. Here, 120 people per hour coukd be decontaminated. After decontamination, people would be given military fatigues to wear and allowed to enter the facility.

A white hallway greeted us. Because of the huge size, CSX Corporation leased 80,000 square feet of the bunker for a data document storage facility in 2004. Due to the sensitive nature of their equipment, this was the reason no guests were allowed to have electrical equipment with them on bunker tours. CSX had refurbished this section in 2006.

To sustain people for such an extended period of time, the bunker has a self-contained power plant that can supply power for 1,100 people up to forty days. Three diesel generators were for emergency backup and have three 14,000 gallon diesal fuel tanks.. On the power plants three floors, three twenty-five thousand gallon water tanks were located under the golf course. An airshaft is protected by a four ton blast door and allowed for fresh air intake. The air was purified by one of eight filtration systems.

We walked further into the power plant and our guide pointed out the industrial incinerator. In addition to being able to burn 500 pounds of waste an hour, the incinerator was capable of burning bodies.

Exiting the power plant, the vault was pointed out to us. Constructed by the Moesler Company (who also constructed the vaults at Fort Knox) of Hamilton Ohio, it contained congressional records and riot gear.

A two level communications room was next. We entered a conference/briefing room. Two murals (one of the West Virginia Capital in the fall and another of the White House) were on the walls to serve as a backdrop for interviews. Even though it would be evident the murals were fake, they would provide a sense of normalcy for the American public. A bank of time zones lined another wall. We watched a seven minute film describing how the bunker came into being.

One big question asked at this time was how did this facility stay so secret and how did the Legislature Branch know to go there? Our guide told us that only two members of the House and two members of the Senate knew where the place.

For security, the facility's security equipment included anti-intrusion strategies. Cameras were situated in strategic places so that any person entering or exiting the facility was under surveillance at all times. The three electronic maps indicated the locations of the alarms. Extensive security maps indicated the locations of the alarms. Extensive security systems overlapped. The Greenbrier's facilities and the bunker's secured area. Individual keys, and in later years, encoded pass cards, controlled access. Computers continually tracked whomever opened which door at which time. Outside the bunker, security guards posed as television repairmen.

Another person asked how much the bunker cost. It cost 15 million in 1960. Eleven million were for the substructure and three million to build the West Virginia wing.

Another question was about the spouses and children under eighteen. Originally, no plans had been made for family members. It didn't take long to realize this was not wise and a separate dormitory (referred to as the Eisenhower section) was set up for spouses and their dependent children.

We left the communications room and headed to a two room exhibit section that highlighted what life was like for those in the bunker. A switchboard and other equipment highlighted how contact could be made with the outside world. The switchboard contained all the phone numbers in the United States.

The bunker also featured a 6,000 square foot clinic containing 12 beds, an operating room, an intensive care unit, a dental unit, and a nurse's station. Military physician's and nurses would have been alerted and brought here to staff this operation. The medical clinic was expanded in the mid-1980's. The clinic also included a fully stocked pharmacy.

The second room in the exhibit was an example of the dormitory. When the bunker was disassembled, most of the cots were removed and taken to other military installations. The bunker originally had 18 bunkers on two levels containing wall lockers and metal bunk beds. Each dormitory could sleep 60 people, and there were shower and toilet facilities as well as a small lounge. Congressional leadership had individual beds and their own conference area.

Walking through the room, we entered the dimly lit cafeteria/kitchen. With only 415 seats, meals had to be done in three shifts to accomadate everyone. To help discourage lingering, a checkerboard floor had been installed as research shows such a pattern makes people uncomfortable and they are more apt to eat and leave. The 7,500 square feet space is still being utilized as the home of the Greenbrier's culinary arts institute.

The final room we entered was the 16,000 square foot Exhibit Hall. This was the only room in the entire bunker with its original flooring. Load bearing pillars were present in the room. Refurbishment had squared them off.

The Exhibit Hall was designated to be the workplace for the Congressional support staff members to conduct the business of government. The Hall has been used by thousands of people for years and they never knew they were in the bunker. The idea was to hide it in plain site.

Governor's Hall and the Mountaineer Room, the two meeting rooms off of the Exhibit Hall, were to be the assembly rooms for the House of Representatives and Senate. Like the Exhibit Hall, these rooms were also used throughout the years by thousands of guests.

A laundry facility was located adjacent to the Exhibit Hall, as was the television repair shop which served as part of the cover for the secret operation.

Walking out of the Exhibit Hall, we saw the door to the East Corrider. It was a twenty-five foot, thirty ton blast door. This was the primary way to bring in Congress.

As we exited the Exhibit Hall, we gathered our cameras and phones. The last twenty ton door was opened and we exited into the foyer located within the Greenbrier. Our guide pointed out how no one entering the Exhibit Hall knew the doorway was three-five feet of solid concrete. The busy wallpaper in this area had been purposely placed to conceal the true opening and appear like a seamless wall when needed.

At this point, our tour was over. We spent a few hours to explore the rest of the hotel. We wandered the shops (with prices starting at expensive and going towards priceless) and picked up a magnet for the fridge. I would have loved a sweater, but I had better things to spend my sixty dollars on.

After, we strolled the grounds and snapped more pictures before heading to the car. Someday, we plan to spend a weekend there. Who wouldn't want a weekend experiencing the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?

Greenbrier Pictures