Old missile sites hold Cold War mystique – USATODAY.com
Old missile sites hold Cold War mystique
Growing up in good old Westport, CT, I had always know that there were Nike missle sites in town – two to be precise. One of them was next to my high school and was the site of much exploration on the part of the students – and no, I’m not willing to discuss whether or not I participated until such time as any co-conspirators, if any, discuss it openly first. So there.
You know that I myself find the concept of private parties buying said missile sites fascinating (here and here) – especially when they are puchased and turned into such interesting things as a diver’s training area or a hotel….
So reading about it in on USA Today made me take a closer look at what happened to those sites – both in Westport and my new hometown, Milford. It turns out that former Nike missle sites are popular with the towns – probably because they get a lot of property that not many folks would be likely to buy….
In Westport, the fight over installing the Nike sites became the basis of the film Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!, starring soon to be residents Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. The site next to the high school has been on the town property lists for a while, and they have, in the last few years demolished the above ground structures (it’s not clear if they filled in the silos and underground structures) and then built over at least part of the area to make a new middle school (which has the name of an old middle school from another part of town, but I don’t even want to talk about that arguably stupid naming decision).
The other site in town is now the Rolnick Observatory, which I’ve been to a number of times and always forget what it was there for in the first place….
In Milford, the sites are even more interesting: one is now apparently owned by the Board of Ed (I think for storage and office/facilities usage) and another is… well, I don’t know what it is now. It looks like it’s part of an office park, but what I find most interesting is that it’s about 1/4 mile from my house – one of my sons classmates lives across the road from it apparently. The things you don’t realize are around you….
Anyone else have something like this near them?
