In the morning we enjoyed a buffer breakfast featuring traditional southern grits, biscuits and gravy, and a multitude of other choices at the Greenbrier.
When staying at the Greenbrier you must make a reservation to tour the congressional bunker. Don’t miss it! It is an intriguing and fantastic slice of our country’s past and one I had heard nothing about. In 1957, President Eisenhower, in the throws of the cold war, built bunkers in undisclosed locations in order to safely house and secure the members of each section of government, so that our democracy as we know it, would be able to go forth after a national emergency. This is Pre, Pre 9/11, and the scope of their thinking and planning proved ahead of its time.
Greenbrier was chosen as the location for the congressional bunker and was built to house 1,100 to 1,500 people in 153 rooms, deep under the ground, for up to 60 days. This was for many years, kept a national secret and when you actually see this facility, it’s hard to believe that the secret was never leaked for virtually decades.
To help us to understand this possibility, our tour guide, reemphasized, how Greenbrier built in 1922, is the major employer of the area and the town was always, and continues to be, extremely loyal to them. Any workers hired to work on the Bunker were told that it was a storage unit and future conference center for the Greenbrier, and remember, it was an era of "no questions asked."
The entire area was fenced off and the Bunker was actually put in by levels. After digging down 100 feet the bottom level is storage, next is operational and then sleeping quarters. The massive amount of dirt excavated was used to fill in a local ravine.
Entering the bunker you pass through a 25 ton, 18 inch door, and you realize exactly what the term bunker means, as the door shuts a deafening bang reverberates the five-foot concrete walls. We transversed the 420-foot long tunnel which was used as a supply entrance. From 1962, when it was completed, until 1992, when word leaked out about its existence, supplies were maintained and updated on a regular basis, so that this facility was at the ready in a moments notice.
That means foodstuff was constantly replaced as they expired, but also each congress person’s drugs and medical records were actually kept on file and in the infirmary on a regular basis.
The planning and attention to detail, boggles the mind. Current magazines were delivered and rotated periodically for a span of 30 years!
Entrance to the Bunker
We toured the operational facilities and saw first hand how the water and communication systems were all state of the art, and upgraded as necessary. To top it off, besides the people hired to build the Bunker, 80 to 100 people were on call to work the Bunker if activated - Doctors, nurses, cooks, etc., all with top secret clearance, all local people with a secret about its existence.
Needles to say, the cost to both build and run this facility for over 30 years was astronomical We were surprised to learn that with all of this advanced preventative technology, the Bunker is not a bomb shelter but a fall out shelter. That is why, when a reporter leaked the story on the Greenbrier’ Bunker and it’s location, the next day, congress decommissioned it. Ownership reverted to the Greenbrier Hotel, and that is how we now get to view it firsthand. As a bomb shelter the government at any time can call upon it, and hopefully it will never be used for its original purpose.
After the tour we grabbed a quick brunch and ventured off the premises to explore Organ Cave a few miles way. We went from a history tour to an environmental tour. Organ Cave is the second largest commercial cave on the east coat. Privately owned by Janie Morgan and her husband, James she informed us that the tour is about an hour and a half long, and covers only 5 of the more than 200 known passages.
Our tour took us past the "obligatory" natural rock formations; waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites, but also a good bit of Civil War History with original hoppers used for the process of making gunpowder.
Organ Cave has a history dating back to the pioneers of 1784. It was so cool under the ground's surface and I advise wearing a jacket and sneakers, as most of the natural walkways wear very slippery. As we climbed the final 30 steps to emerge into the light we immediately felt the raise in both temperature and humidity.
Tonight we were staying at the General Lewis Inn in Lewisburg, so we headed there to freshen up before dinner. The original section of he Inn was opened as a hotel in 1929. The innkeeper Nan Morgan is the granddaughter of the original owners, and she welcomed us and gave us a brief tour. The Inn is filled with antiques, most of which appear to be family heirlooms. There are 25 guest rooms and the Inn serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to the public as well as their guests. Nan showed us our room, which was "B&B" comfortable and quaint. The exterior of the Inn had a large porch with rockers and it looked like a movie set, inviting us to sit a while, sip tea and watch the world go by. But we had dinner reservations so once again we were off.
We ate at Tavern 1785 in the heart of Lewisburg and in my effort to sample soups across America; I had the wild rice chicken soup, which was hearty and flavorful. Don had the coffee encrusted pork special, I had the fillet mignon and both were good choices. Eating outside on their patio, it was a pleasant summer night and fun to watch the town activity. There are many nice shops to browse here such as Peddlers Alley Antiques, Cooper Gallery or Robert's Antiques, but unfortunately they were closed, so window-shopping was all I could do. Don was happy.
General Lewis Inn
The town is gifted to house the Greenbrier Valley Theater, a professional theater guild, and we had tickets to "The Exact Center of the Universe" This was a funny tale of a feisty, stubborn, middle aged Southern Matriarch and her son Appleton. This story is told with great humor at the Mother's expense and the acting if an example of the caliber shown here, was excellent. I for one didn't see what was so funny about an over protective mother who thinks her child is the center of the Universe, as I asked Don to call home and check on our kids for the tenth time.
