Inside the Cold War

The Greenbrier Hotel has long enjoyed a reputation as Washington DC elite's favorite vacation spot.

But it is also the location of a secret bunker that can hold the entire US Congress.

The luxury hotel located in Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, concealed an emergency bunker hidden 750 feet below the surface that was developed in 1958 specifically for US politicians to take shelter in the event of a nuclear attack.

False walls in the hotel concealed 25-ton blast doors, which led to the steel-reinforced concrete bunker that featured 1,100 beds, a briefing room and intensive care unit.

The Government Relocation Facility, codenamed 'Greek Island,' was also stacked with a six-month supplies of food, water, and medicine.

It is not known if Congress has ever fled to the underground bunker, but it was decommissioned in 1992, allow the public to walk through what was called 'The Last Resort.'

A false wall conceals a 20-ton steel door that leads down to the bunker. This door was designed to move with only 50 pounds of force, meaning a single person could open or close it.

The Greenbrier Hotel's rooms start around $400 a night for one full-size bed and near $3,000 a night for the Congressional Suite. Located in the New River Valley, the resort boasts four on-site golf courses.

The bunker's prison-like dormitories consisted of metal bunkbeds and shared lockers.  All 1,100 beds were assigned to members of the government in the case of a nuclear attack or other disaster that drove them underground.

In the midst of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, the threat of nuclear war felt very real, and politicians were serious about ensuring that they survived if that should happen.

READ MORE: What do they know? World's billionaires are building bunkers

The world's wealthiest have increasingly spent hundreds of millions on securing underground compounds, private islands and (for the merely rich) 'survival condos.' 

And what better place than the gorgeous resort hotel in the New River Valley - complete with golf courses and top-of-the-line suites. 

The US government had already bought the resort from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1942 to intern Axis diplomats during World War 2. 

And so began the Greek Island Project's bunker. 

The sprawling subterranean facility contains everything that would have been needed to support life in the wake of a nuclear attack.

Monumental doors would keep occupants safe from nuclear fallout, blasts, or invaders. 

Some were hidden behind wallpapered interior walls, while larger ones for vehicles were concealed behind false doors. 

Chemical decontamination showers inside entrances would wash away radioactive fallout as people sought refuge in the bunker.

Spartan living quarters, a far cry from the luxury hotel 720 feet above, were furnished with little but metal bunkbeds and tiny lockers.

A briefing room with rows of green velvet chairs was set up for surviving politicians to address the nation on TV in the event on an attack on American soil.

A medical clinic was set up to care for any health issues that came up, and an operations room with small arms and communications equipment was there to keep occupants safe.

This door, which long held a 'high voltage' warning sign, concealed the bunker's west entrance.

Behind the 'high voltage' sign hid this 28-ton door meant to allow authorized vehicles into the bunker - and everyone else out.

The 'communications briefing room' in the bunker was meant to serve as a TV studio for official addresses to the nation, assuming there were people left in the US to watch them.

At the time of its construction, rumors flourished among residents of the small West Virginia town, even though it was technically a secret project. 

Local companies were contracted to excavate a mystery hole next to the luxe hotel and pour endless truckloads of concrete down it - an estimated 4,000 loads totaling 50,000 tons.

Contractors were reportedly told that cost was not an issue, and their overages were always approved.

Supervisors gladly paid fines for overloaded cement trucks, and contractors even bought extra trucks to meet the monumental demands of the 2.5-year construction project. 

Cranes delivered massive vault-style doors that had been assembled offsite, adding to the air of mystery around the secret project. 

One weighed 20 tons, and another weighed 28 tons.

The bunker's medical clinic included this intensive care unit. The facility was meant to support 1,100 people for months without leaving.

The Mosler Safe Company built the humongous doors that protected the bunker. This one, seen at the company's production facility, is 19.5 inches thick and weighs over 20 tons.

This operations center, now open to the public for tours, contained communications and surveillance equipment - as well as weapons.

Once the gigantic doors were put in place, guards stationed at them ensured that no unauthorized people entered.

Inside, the bunker was being outfitted with meeting rooms, bathrooms, dormitories, and a health clinic.  

The dormitories were decidedly prison-like: Metal bunkbeds held narrow mattresses, and lockers were shared.

'All they had for private items that you could lock up were a small drawer, right underneath the beds, you could put your personal items in here,' Greenbrier's official historian Bob Conte told NPR. 'For 30 years, every one of these 1,100 beds was assigned to somebody.' 

The project was so huge, it was impossible to keep it a total secret, despite the government's best efforts.

When Conte started his job in 1978, he was pelted with questions from locals.

The Greek Island Project bunker's dormitories still bear posters reminding officials to keep government secrets secret.

The west entrance tunnel to the Greek Island Project's bunker is now open to public tours, which can be booked through the Greenbrier Hotel.

President Dwight Eisenhower's administration commissioned the Greek Island Project bunker to house government officials. This bed was in the medical clinic.

One thing people wanted to know about was why there was a 7,000-foot landing strip in the little town of White Sulphur Springs, which had 3,000 residents.

In 1962, the Greenbrier had paid $90,000 for the strip to be extended to that length, fueling local curiosity and gossip. 

At one point, the government dispatched two undercover agents to mingle with locals and soak in the rumors.

These two, who posed as hunters, had not been briefed on the project. But once they collected all the knowledge that locals had on it, they knew so many real details about the classified project that they had to be given Top Secret security clearances. 

But the speculation eventually died down.

A piece of communications equipment is on display at the renovated bunker, which has been open to the public since 2006.

A chemical shower decontamination area was part of the complex entrance to the bunker. In the event that someone came in after a nuclear attack, radioactive material would need to be washed off of them.

The Greenbrier Hotel's grounds show no sign of a secret bunker. Over the decades since the secret facility was built, the site has been covered with mature trees.

Even though locals may have had some inkling that there was a secret bomb shelter or something near the hotel, nothing really came of it.

The grass grew back, trees took root, and in time there was little sign that it had ever been a construction site. 

Under the guise of electronics repair staff at the hotel, government employees kept the bunker freshly stocked with supplies over the years. 

Then in 1992, Washington Post reporter Ted Gup published a story on the secret hideaway.

Interviews with construction workers and government officials showed just how big the project had been - and how real the threat of nuclear war had felt back then. 

Once the story came out, the US federal government quickly decommissioned the bunker. Its cover had been blown.

Over the next three years, they cut their ties to Greenbrier.

After a two-year renovation, the facility opened to public tours in 2006. You can visit it for $47 for the public tour.