Many historical and cultural sites can be found in Ohio. There is also a mystery and secret site that not many people know about. It’s called Clarksville Base, and it used to be a hidden nuclear plant where a lot of U.S. nuclear bombs were kept and put together during the Cold War.
It’s now a ghost town made up of caves, houses, and tools that show the dangerous and dark past of the nuclear age.
Clarksville Base’s History
Since 1948, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) have worked together to run Clarksville Base. During World War II, it was built on an Army base that was used as a prisoner-of-war camp. The base was split into two sections. The “Q” section held and put together the nuclear weapons, while the “A” section had the offices and other support buildings.
A double fence circled the “Q” area, which was watched over by armed guards and secured with alarms, cameras, and dogs, among other things. The “A” area wasn’t as safe, but only allowed people could get in.
There were both citizen and military workers at the base, and they had to follow strict rules and processes when they were around nuclear weapons. They also had to keep a lot of secrets because both the presence and location of the base were secret. The workers lived in places close to the base, like Clarksville and Hopkinsville, and drove to work every day.
From 1948 to 1968, the base was open for business. During that time, it kept and put together different kinds of nuclear weapons, like bombs, warheads, and rockets. Some of the guns were moved to other places to be used, while others were put back as backups. The guns were also inspected, maintained, and tested at the base.
Clarksville Base Will Be Closed and Left Behind
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks led the U.S. government to decide in the late 1960s to consolidate and lower its nuclear weapons supply. One of the bases that was chosen to close was Clarksville Base because it was thought to be outdated and unnecessary.
The base stopped being used for military purposes in 1968, and the nuclear weapons were taken away and put in other places. The base was then given to the Army, which used it for training, storing things, and getting rid of things. Some houses and structures were also torn down by the Army, and some caves and bunkers were filled in.
The Army did not get rid of all evidence of the base’s nuclear past, though. The walls, gates, signs, roads, and bridges were just a few of the things that were left at the base. Some of the tunnels and bunkers were also left open so that interested people and tourists could go inside and look at what was left of the nuclear plant.