Doom Town, Nevada

For the adventurous traveler who’s looking for something unique to do while on vacation, might I suggest a trip to a nuclear testing site?  In Yucca Flat is what is known as the Nevada Testing Site and within that site is a place called DoomTown (also known as SurvivalTown).  It’s a reproduction of a town that was built in order to see what the effects of a nuclear blast would be on buildings and people.

The town was not populated with real people, of course.  It was, however, filled with mannequins, most of them in everyday poses so as to replicate a typical day in the life of Middle America during the 1950s.  Some of them are strolling down the street, others are crowded around the dining room table eating dinner and a few were placed in bomb shelters, just to see if that helped at all.  While the area of the Nevada Test Site is still considered classified, you can now, on selected days during the year, take a tour of Doom Town and learn about all the testing that has been done over the decades.

The first blast to take place here was way back in the early 1950s, so you don’t have to worry too much about radiation.  As long as you stay with the tour guide and don’t try to wander off into any of the areas labeled as contaminated, that is.  Testing continued all the way up until 1962, and 126 blasts were made in total during that time.  And when you’re done looking at the blasted town, you can buy some souvenirs at the shop to celebrate your trip to this place of destruction and science.

But DoomTown is just one of many testing sites that one can visit if interested in the atomic age.  The following list offers up several of the best around the world.  If you’re a history buff, the Nevada Test Site is an extremely important site in course of world history.  The tests that took place there defined the way the people of the Western world lived for centuries, building bomb shelters and worrying that any day their entire city could be blasted into dust.  It was not a pleasant time, to be sure.

Unfortunately, the testing site is only open every once in a while and only from Monday to Thursday.  If you want to check it out, you’ll have to make sure to contact the Nevada U.S. Department of Energy at their web page for a tour schedule.  And remember, since it’s still considered a classified site, no cameras or cell phones are allowed, so you’ll only have your memories to rely on.

Doom Town Aerial photo courtesy of Doc Searls via Wikicommons