Greenbrier Government Relocation Facility, West Virginia

Planned by the Eisenhower Administration and completed in 1961, this formerly secret underground bunker was designed to house members of Congress and their staffs during (and after) nuclear attack and is located below the Greenbrier Resort Hotel in West Virginia. Construction of a new hotel wing and expansion of its golf course served as cover for the bunker's construction, starting in 1958. Inside is 112,544 square feet of space, to support a maximum of more than 1,000 people, with 18 dormitories, fuel storage, cafeteria, power plant, water supply, hospital, meeting rooms, and an assembly room with a backdrop of the capitol building, for doing news reports. A pharmacy stocked current prescriptions for congressional members. In 1992, the bunker's cover was blown by a Washington Post reporter tipped by sources who saw the bunker as outdated and unrealistic. In 1995, the government ended its lease with the hotel, and now the bunker is open for tours for $34 per person. Photography is not permitted on the tour.