White Sulphur Springs, WV

The Secret of White Sulphur Springs

For more than 30 years, vacationers enjoying a respite at the luxurious Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., never knew that a far more elaborate getaway existed deep in the ground below them.

And what a secret it was.

Everything necessary to sustain 1,100 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for as long as two months—including food, clothing, communications systems, and even weapons—had been placed in a 112,000-square-foot bunker, carved 700 feet into the hillside beneath the legendary hotel.

From 1958 until it was revealed by a reporter in 1992, the bunker—known internally as “Operation Greek Island”—was White Sulphur Springs’ greatest secret. Now, it has become one of its most popular draws.

“We’ve had about 200,000 people through here since we began doing bunker tours in December 1995,” says Mia Decker, one of 15 guides. “And it pleases me a lot because this is a great learning tool.”

After passing through a 25-ton blast door, visitors enter a world of concrete floors, plain white walls, and rows of tightly clustered bunks—the only ornamentation an occasional U.S. flag and a giant picture of the Capitol meant to be changed with the seasons.

During the height of the bomb scare in the ’50s and ’60s, individuals and families built shelters, and the federal government constructed its own high-tech hideouts. President Eisenhower instigated the creation of several such facilities, including the one at The Greenbrier. The other locations are still unknown.

Paul Fritz Bugas, director of bunker operations, says the West Virginia site was selected for several reasons, including its proximity to Washington, D.C., as well as its small population of 2,200 and large enough size—7,000 acres—that the structure could be built secretly. The Greenbrier, built in 1780, also served as a military headquarters during the Civil War and as a hospital during World War II.

“West Virginians as a whole are very patriotic,” says Bugas, who has worked in the bunker since the 1960s.

Throughout its operation, 12 to 15 full-time employees and a support staff of up to 200 kept the bunker in a constant state of readiness, right down to current periodicals and clean sheets on the beds. The men and women—some of whom posed as employees of a fictional consulting firm—worked under three levels of clearance: confidential, secret, and top-secret. Only those with top-secret clearance knew the real purpose of the bunker and exactly how it would be used in a national crisis.

At whatever level they worked, “There was a great deal of pride. Being involved with Project Casper (the original code name) or Greek Island was like having a piece of the rock,” Bugas says. “It was a special honor.”

If townspeople voiced suspicions, the official policy was to make no denials, which might give credence to the rumors. Management even allowed business groups to hold meetings in one section of the bunker.

“They said, ‘We’ll put it right in front of them, and they’ll never see it,’” Decker says. “And they were right. It worked beautifully. Hundreds of thousands of people were in there, and they never knew they were in the bunker.”

To keep guests from suspecting anything, decorative disguises such as elaborately patterned wallpaper hid hinges in secret walls. An elevator that could’ve transported the curious to the second floor of the bunker was somehow always “out of order.”

The subterfuge ended within 24 hours of publication of an article in the Washington Post on May 31, 1992. Because the safety of the hideaway had been compromised, the bunker was immediately decommissioned.

“Everybody has sort of adjusted to the fact that it happened,” Bugas says of the exposé. “Life goes on.”

After all, Decker points out, White Sulphur Springs—resplendent in its mountainous beauty—now has one more gift to share with the world.

Kara Carden is a regular contributor to American Profile.

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