The luxury hotel Greenbrier has a secret bunker with 1,000 people
The Greenbrier in West Virginia is not your average hotel. Beneath its surface lies a secret underground bunker capable of housing up to 1,000 people.
This sprawling shelter, complete with 1,000 beds, a café, a hospital, and a broadcast center, is tucked behind a 25-ton blast door.
It's a comforting thought for guests who might sleep a bit sounder knowing such a facility exists - although one would hope never to need it.
The Greenbrier is not only a potential safe haven but also a unique tourist attraction.
Today, this bunker is considered a unique perk for guests staying at the super swanky resort near White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia.
It's not just a potential safe haven during a crisis, but also an interesting tourist attraction.
Visitors from all over the world are drawn to its extraordinary past and riveting origin story.
The Greenbrier is built for US lawmakers
The Greenbrier is the secret hideout that wasn't built for just anyone.
It was specifically designed to shelter all of the US lawmakers - and a personal assistant for each of them.
The reason why Greenbrier has secret bunkers capable of housing 1,000 people
The existence of this bunker only came to light 32 years ago when The Washington Post reporter Ted Gup wrote an article about it.
Locals were left shocked to discover that a nuclear bunker had been right on their doorsteps all this time.
The Greenbrier was built for members of the US Congress in the event of an emergency.
Covertly constructed from 1959 to 1962 using a 'cut-and-cover' style method, the fortress beneath.
The Greenbrier was built to house all the members of the United States Congress in the event of an emergency during the height of the Cold War.
The government collaborated with the high-end hotel to create the bunker, codenamed 'Project Greek Island', out of fear that officials might need to shelter if a nuclear holocaust unfolded.
The bunker was disguised by building the West Virginia Wing.
The construction work was cleverly disguised by the erection of the West Virginia Wing, an above-ground addition to the hotel.
As a result, no one had a clue about its presence.
Upon completion, the 112,544 square-foot bolthole made out of reinforced concrete was stocked up with supplies
Although thankfully none of the 535 members of Congress ever had to use them.
The bunker boasts decontamination chambers, an intensive care unit, auditoriums, and a communications briefing room so that officials could at least try and run the country from there if needed.
The Greenbrier bunker's broadcast center was also equipped with large changeable seasonal backdrops, so members of Congress could pretend they were broadcasting from Washington and that everything was under control.
Now a National Historic Landmark, it stands as a testament to a time of tension and the measures taken to ensure the continuity of government.
