A Resort Above and a Plan Below
For decades visitors enjoyed the Greenbrier without knowing that a classified facility lay beneath their feet. The resort in the Allegheny Mountains had welcomed travelers since the eighteenth century, yet during the Cold War it gained an unexpected second purpose.
Hidden behind reinforced concrete and steel was a vast bunker built to shelter the United States Congress in the event of a nuclear strike. Its construction began quietly in the late nineteen fifties and its full story remained unknown to the public for thirty years.
Building Project Greek Island
In 1959 federal officials approached the Greenbrier to host a secret continuity of government center. The work was carried out at the same time as a major aboveground expansion called the West Virginia Wing. Both projects moved forward together so that heavy construction on the hotel would conceal the activity underground.
From 1959 until 1962 crews excavated the chamber and built an enormous protected space with blast resistant walls, decontamination rooms, power systems, air filtration, water supplies and dormitory style areas large enough to house more than one thousand members of Congress and staff. The official code name for the complete facility was Project Greek Island.
Prepared but Never Activated
Once completed the bunker was fully stocked. It held food, medical supplies, communications gear and fuel. It had briefing rooms and chambers that matched the size and layout needed for the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bunker was maintained under a strict system of secrecy. Only a small number of government employees knew its exact purpose.
Hotel staff were told the underground area supported a secure data center for government agencies. Even during high tension events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis the site was not activated. Congress never relocated to the Greenbrier and the facility remained unused except for routine maintenance.
Public Revelation and New Life
The long held secret came to an end in 1992. Journalist Ted Gup published an investigative story in The Washington Post that disclosed the existence of Project Greek Island. Within hours federal authorities decommissioned the site.
Its original emergency mission officially ended. In the years that followed the bunker underwent renovation and was adapted for a new purpose. CSX Information Processing used part of the space for private sector data storage. The Greenbrier opened the rest for guided tours. Visitors can now see the blast doors, power rooms, dormitory halls and meeting spaces that were once hidden from the vacationers above. Every feature remains a physical record of one of the most secret Cold War preparedness plans ever built inside the United States.
Visitors at the Greenbrier once relaxed above a hidden Cold War secret.
Beneath the resort a vast bunker waited for Congress in case of nuclear attack.
Its construction, silence and sudden exposure form one of the most unusual chapters in US history…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/gnEIgcJtg5
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) November 20, 2025