This is Part 2 of our Eastern Tennessee adventure. Check out Part 1 from Obed Wild and Scenic River here to see the sort of misfortunes that we faced as we tried to visit the parks during our stay, and they continue below. But as you’ll see, we tried to make the best out of it and had a good time along the way.
First, I should mention that my knowledge of 20th century American/world history knowledge is quite lacking. Growing up, I was never into history that much, and especially when it came to wars, I tuned out. As we travelled around SC visiting all the state parks, I learned a lot more about the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, since there were battles here. But as for things like World War II, I know names of some people/places/things, but not really any connections. (Ok, Fort Moultrie in Charleston was used during WWI and WWII, but there were no battles there.)
The Manhattan Project, though, was completely unknown to me. So, having done a little research ahead of time, I had learned that Oak Ridge, TN was a site used as part of the Manhattan Project, which was intended to produce the atomic bomb. The name of the project is due to the original headquarters of the Manhattan Engineer District in New York, tasked with building the bomb before the Germans could.
The park itself is unique in that there are actually three sites, each located in a place that played a major role in the project. Oak Ridge, TN is one. The other two are in Los Alamos, NM and Hanford, WA. It was at Oak Ridge where the uranium was produced that was implemented in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
It was interesting to learn how the topography of the Oak Ridge area influenced the decision to build there. With plenty of ridges and valleys in the Cumberland Plateau, reactors could be built that were physically separated from each other. The land itself was sparsely populated, meaning fewer people would have to be displaced upon building the city. Additionally the rivers passing through provided plenty of hydroelectricity, thanks to the dams that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) had been building.
Much of the land around Oak Ridge is still owned by the Department of Energy, and that access to a lot of it is still restricted. You can get tours from the DOE, but you have to be at least 10 years old. As we were driving from to Obed earlier in the day, we were driving in the vicinity of Oak Ridge. I saw plenty of signs and gates on roads, prohibiting the passage of most vehicles without permission. If it is still like this today, I can only imagine what the ‘Secret City’ must have been like back in the 1940s.
The visitor center is located at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The museum is the former home of the primary school built as the city was being constructed. There were exhibits throughout that teach visitors about the park, and there are other activities for kids unrelated to the park.
This place was called the ‘Secret City’ because of, well, its secrecy. It wasn’t on any map. There were gates that you had to pass through to enter. I don’t think many people knew all the details about what was going on. Each person had their role, they went and did it, and they didn’t ask questions.
The museum itself was set up as a series of ethical questions. Should the US have displaced families in order to build Oak Ridge? Should the president have authorized the creation of the project to build the bomb? Should the bomb have been dropped? These and other questions are presented in the main hallway display, called Difficult Decisions. (This article by the NPS talks about the Calutron Girls, women who helped process the uranium, and it hits on a lot of the ethical issues.)
What was interesting is that in a couple of places throughout the museum, there was artwork on display done by Japanese children. In fact, Oak Ridge today is a sister city of Naka, Japan. (In my googling while typing, I also realized that Oak Ridge is also a sister city of a city in Russia that goes back to Cold War times.) Apparently, the two cities will frequently send ambassadors to the other city to maintain friendly ties. The ties with Hiroshima date to soon after the bomb, as you can see in the artwork below.
The exhibits throughout the children’s museum sometimes overlapped with the Manhattan Project history, having kids pretend to be on the lookout for spies coming to steal the research. There was a life-size dollhouse that the girls enjoyed playing with, which was coupled with a display of popular toys throughout the decades. There was also a room that allows kids to explore how locks and dams work, pertinent considering the TVA’s presence in the area.
You’ve probably had this experience before, where you learn something new, and then you start seeing it everywhere. I feel the same way about this. On our way out, Tiffany pointed out that there was this movie called Oppenheimer coming out. I didn’t know the name or the connection, but then I saw the name on a book in the park store. Little did I know the blockbuster sensation that Oppenheimer was going to be. Additionally, one of the books I read shortly after our visit talked about the Manhattan Project, so it was nice to have some context.
As we left the museum, we drove through town and noted the similar style of all the houses, a majority of which having been built upon the city’s construction in the ’40s. It’s reminiscent of the mill villages that are present around the mills in the former textile towns in the South.
So as I wind down this post, I need to return to the misfortunes of this trip. I noted in the write-up of Obed about my car acting up and our having to stay with Tiffany’s grandma for an extra night due to illness in the daughter of my college friend Sandra that we were planning on staying with. Well, throughout the day, I had been texting my friend, and she noted that her daughter seemed fine. As such, we decided to go to their house to spend the night.
Sandra and I had coordinated our visit weeks ahead of time, but when we showed up, Sandra let me know that unfortunately, her husband was needing to go to a funeral, and on top of this, they were going to be having to put down their cat, which they had had for many years. Unfortunate timing indeed (especially on top of her daughter’s stomach bug the previous day), but Sandra and I still enjoyed reconnecting.
Sandra and her husband have two girls around the same age as our girls. They had a great time swimming in the pool. A highlight for Teagan was finding a small water snake in the filter and getting to rescue it (and drop it back on the brick patio and having to rescue it again to put it in the grass).
The next day, we were slated to go into Knoxville to visit some former friends from our church in Columbia, who came to Knoxville to start their own church. It was going to be Sunday, so we were looking forward to visiting the church. We were going to spend another night at one couple’s house and potentially visit another park or two on the way home the following day.
But alas, none of that was in the cards.
Turns out, during the night on Saturday, the stomach bug hit Teagan. And Sandra’s husband. And her other daughter.
Scratch all plans. Return to Columbia first thing on Sunday morning (and pray that my almost-overheating car would make it down off the mountain…I had been adding coolant throughout the previous day, so I was hopeful).
Teagan dry-heaved all the way home. My car made it home, praise the Lord! Then Tiffany and Sage got sick once we got home. Then the car got a new radiator soon afterwards. Fortunately, I never got sick.
Quite a series of events. So, we definitely need to return to the Knoxville area to give Obed and Oak Ridge and Sandra’s family a proper visit. But I’m thankful for the short time we got to spend at each place, and look forward to returning, Lord willing, with better health, timing, weather, and car!
Click below for a few more shots from our time at Oak Ridge.
Beavers in the Park 