As we head to our next stop, we pass a city called Oak Ridge in Tennessee which is home to one of the most amazing real-life stories as told in the book “The Girls of Atomic City: The untold story of the Women who helped win World War II” by Denise Kiernan.

In 1942, the United States government chose the area of Oak Ridge as the site for developing materials for the Manhattan Project: A research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear bombs which were dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Oak Ridge was chosen because of its small population which made compulsory land acquisitions affordable; its accessibility by road and rail; utilities such as water and electricity were readily available; and, due to the local topography, the area was protected from public scrutiny and against the spread of any potential disaster.

Starting in October 1942, the US Army Corps of Engineering began acquiring more than 60,000 acres of land in the Oak Ridge area for the project. Many residents came home to find eviction notices tacked to their doors. Most were given six weeks’ notice to evacuate, although several had as little as two weeks.

By March 1943, the Corps of Engineering had removed the area’s earlier communities and established fences and checkpoints. Because of the large number of workers recruited to the area, the Army planned a town for project workers at the eastern end of the valley. The time required for the project’s completion caused the Army to opt for a relatively permanent establishment rather than a camp of enormous size.

The secret town soon had 300 miles of roads, 55 miles of railroad track, 10 schools, seven theaters, restaurants and cafeterias, and 13 supermarkets. A library, a symphony orchestra, sporting facilities and church services for 17 denominations all served the new city and its 75,000 residents. For security reasons, no airport was built.

Thousands of the workers were young women from small towns in the South recruited to work in the secret city enticed by good wages and the promise of war-ending work. Most never guessed what was really being made in the enormous factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee until the end of the war when the secret of Oak Ridge was revealed to the world.

Today, Oak Ridge is home to the Y-12 National Security Complex, a US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility.

Miss Holly listens intently to the ideas for tomorrow’s blog!