Image via Kilroywashere.org
Once a backup haven for the members of Congress in case of nuclear attacks, Project Greek Island is now a tourist attraction. Talk about a blast from the past—and we don’t mean the Cold War paranoia. Check out that wallpaper! (via Atlas Obscura)
Originally called Project X and then Project Casper, the fallout shelter now known as Project Greek Island is located underneath the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Built in the 1950s, the shelter was only intended to protect the members of Congress and their aides in the event of nuclear threat—in other words, no wives and children allowed (a tad harsh).
The shelter was operated in secret by government workers disguised as hotel employees until the Washington Post exposed the shelter’s existence in 1992. Now, tourists can view the underground hideout for $30 a pop and view the shelter’s features such as the retro wallpaper and an incinerator for “pathological waste”—in other words, the bodies of Congressmen (a tad gross). Check out TIME.com’s “A Brief History of the Greenbrier Resort.”