Bombs Away: the atomic bomb impact crater in Mars Bluff, SC

Fun (little known) fact: the US has dropped a nuclear bomb on the Carolinas.... twice.

About three hours east of Greenville lies the small town of Mars Bluff. Originally known as Marr's Bluff during the American Revolution, the name was shortened to Mars Bluff at some point before the Civil War, near the end of which the inland Confederate Mars Bluff Naval Yard was established.

I had never heard of the naval yard, but the town’s name is familiar; Mars Bluff has the distinction of having been inadvertently bombed with an atomic bomb by the United States Air Force. This might otherwise not have been on my radar, but my boys are budding US history buffs and so it was a given that we would eventually visit the site.

On a spring day in 1958, a B-47 Stratojet was en route to the U.K. to take part in “Operation Snow Flurry.” A fault light lit up, indicating the bomb’s harness locking pin had not engaged, and Captain Bruce Kulka went to investigate. As he reached around the bomb to pull himself up he accidentally hit the emergency release pin; the 8,500-lb. device hit the bomb bay doors, broke through them, and went screaming towards earth.

Aerial photo of the Gregg home after the bomb (Photo credit: Columbia Star)

Luckily for Walter Gregg and his family, the bomb wasn’t armed with its nuclear rod; its fission core was stored in a separate part of the plane. Unluckily for Walter Gregg, it was loaded with about 7,600 pounds of explosives; the resulting explosion destroyed his house, flattened his garden & surrounding forest, and created a mushroom cloud that could be seen for miles. By some miracle, not a single person was killed in the blast. The military reimbursed Gregg giving him a chance to start over, and the property was passed through the hands of several owners over the next fifty years. The hole was never filled in.

The original bomb crater was 30 feet deep and measured 75 feet across, although today not much remains to indicate that this was the site of a local footnote in Cold War history. A historical road marker on the north side of Interstate 76 marks the entrance to an overgrown road that leads to a hard-to-follow trail. Wind your way through a pine thicket past the foundation of the Gregg house, and you’ll come to what is now just a leafy depression in the woods, most easily recognized by the large plywood cutout of a bomb and kiosk with newspaper stories that were prepared for a 50th anniversary event. At one point the crater was used as a burn pit, giving the rainwater a murky appearance.

Crater Road

Because the property remains in private hands, visitors need the owner’s permission to visit the site. There is a second, much easier access point off Lucius Circle – also on private property. To round out the trip, make sure to stop by the Florence County Museum after stops at the crater and historical marker; it houses several fragments of the bomb. 

After the Mars Bluff incident all flights were required to ensure that bombs were locked down properly before takeoff. That still wasn’t enough to prevent a second Carolina event, as on January 23, 1961, a B-52 bomber broke up mid air, dropping two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Information declassified in 2013 showed that one of the bombs came very close to detonating; it had its trigger mechanisms engage and its parachute open, two things that only happen when the bomb is intended to explode on target. Only one low-voltage trigger kept the bomb from detonating upon landing. In July 2012, the State of North Carolina erected a historical road marker in the town of Eureka, 3 miles north of the crash site, commemorating the crash under the title "Nuclear Mishap" – maybe a future destination for our crew?

"Commander Admits Crew Error Possible" and "It Was a Bad Day in Mars Bluff"

The “Birthplace and Deathbed of the Confederacy," Abbeville SC

Abbeville was settled by French Huguenot settlers in 1758, and together with the county was named for the French town of the same name. Officially incorporated on December 20, 1832, it was the city’s role in the Civil War that has earned it the nickname of “Birthplace and Deathbed of the Confederacy.” The meeting that prompted the state's secession from the Union took place on Nov. 22, 1860 on Secession Hill, and then five years later Jefferson Davis and his cabinet decided to dissolve the Confederacy at the Burt-Stark Mansion. The noteworthy historic district featuring these locations as well as dozens of other historic sites is just a little over an hour from Greenville and the Upstate.

The very center of Abbeville is the Court Square, quaint historic storefronts lining the greenspace that contains the monument that honors those who served in the Civil War. Beginning with the death of J. Allen on Sullivan’s Island in 1861, almost 350 Abbeville residents would lose their lives in the Civil War, close to ½ the male population of the district at this time. The monument is a replacement that was erected in 1996, 90 years after the Daughters of the Confederacy first placed a monument there. The original was replaced after the Christmas tree surrounding the marker burned in 1991, flaking off large sections of stone.

Across the street is a marker that symbolizes the remembrance of the lynching of Anthony Crawford. On October 21, 1916, a white mob lynched a black leader for refusing to sell his cottonseed to a white merchant for a lower price. The marker is located near the Abbeville County Courthouse, the 1908 Beaux Arts building which is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Facing the square directly next to the court house is the Abbeville Opera House, whose doors first opened on October 10, 1908. The ‘Official Rural Drama State Theatre of South Carolina’ is listed on the  National Register of Historic Places, and is the only "Hemphouse" remaining in South Carolina, the 7,800 ft² stage using the same rope-pulled rigging system as when it was originally built.

The actual spot where the secession speeches were made is a little to the east of the square, near the intersection of Branch Street and Secession Avenue. The location is marked by a stone, historical markers, and the grave of an unknown Confederate soldier.

About ¼ mile northeast from Court Square is the Burt-Stark Mansion, the Greek Revival style home that is now property of the Abbeville County Historic Preservation Commission. It was in this stately mansion that Confederate President Jefferson Davis held the last council of the war of the Confederacy on May 2^nd 1865. Fleeing from Richmond with the Confederacy in shambles, Davis was convinced by his generals and cabinet that Southern resources were completely exhausted and that any attempt to continue the campaign would be futile. Davis officially acknowledged the dissolution of the Confederate government.

Another site listed on the National Register of Historic Places is the Trinity Episcopal Church, the French Gothic church built in 1860. The pink hue is due to the locally made bricks (and native clay) which are beneath the exterior layer of cement, and the original bell still hangs in the tower to this day. The historic churchyard beyond contains the graves of several Confederate soldiers and one Union soldier.

McGowan-Barksdale-Bundy House

If you are touring Abbeville with children, make sure to schedule a stop at the park behind the McGowan-Barksdale-Bundy House, headquarters of the Abbeville County Historical Society. The grounds contain three servants’ cabins, two of which date back to 1857; however it is Caboose No. 5759 that draws their attention, built in August 1963 and a testament of Abbeville at a rail-crossroads. The caboose traveled through town on its way to Richmond, Atlanta, Miami, Washington DC, Baltimore and Cincinnati, and as far as Chicago IL, St. Louis MO & New Orleans LA.

Finally, film buffs should plan to drive down Magazine Street. There they'll find the white Victorian which Julia Roberts moved into in the movie Sleeping With the Enemy. 

404 Magazine Street, Abbeville

The area around Abbeville is home to a number of state parks, as well as the Long Cane Ranger District of Sumter National Forest. Located near the Savannah River Basin, nearby Lake Secession is owned and operated by the City of Abbeville. Abbeville is also part of the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor due to its rich heritage of textiles; the Heritage Corridor stretches from the coast near Charleston to the mountains of Oconee County. It is this combination of the historic with natural that makes Abbeville a great weekend destination from the Upstate.

Gothic Revival style servants cabin

Livery stable built in 1870s after original destroyed in fire

Antietam

Lauris announced that “it was the bloodiest day of the Civil War.” I had to look it up, because somehow it seemed that Gettysburg held that title, but Lauris was right; the bloodiest one day battle in American history occurred at Antietam, with 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of combat on September 17, 1862. (In comparison, Gettysburg involved the largest number of casualties in a single battle, however, those 46,000 - 51,000 were casualties during three days of battle.) The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North, and led to the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.

The Antietam Maryland Monument

As common with the National Battlefields, the Visitor Center is a good place to start your visit. In addition to securing a map of the driving tour of the battlefield, the exhibits and movies provide a needed refresher for those of us who last discussed Antietam in high school some twenty years ago. Plus there’s a good view from the second floor, providing a sort of bird’s-eye-view of the immediate vicinity of the Cornfield & West Woods, and Bloody Lane. The latter also has an observation tower, with a different perspective and a slightly different view.

Titled: miniature cannons behind a large cannon

The self-guided 8 ½ mile auto tour features 11 stops, and begins at the Dunker Church. Built in 1852, this German Baptist church became a focal point for Union attacks the morning of the battle. We stopped at the North Woods where Union Gen. Hooker’s men spent the night before the engagement at Poffenberger farm. We paused at the Cornfield, 24-acres that saw over 60% casualties for some brigades. And then the West Woods, where in 20 minutes over 2,200 Union soldiers were killed or wounded.

Cornfield

Such incredible numbers, and so hard to comprehend with blue skies overhead, green grass underfoot, the first spring roadside flowers blooming.

Recently Lauris asked “why do we only visit battlefields?” I reflected and realized we have spent considerable time at historical sites such as Richmond, Petersburg, Chickamauga and Chattanooga, even though interspersed with parks and scenic areas. This surprised me, as I’m really not a history buff; I prefer unique geological formations, impressive views, and bird/flower/nature-watching over signs about events that unfolded years ago. After thinking about it, my answer to his question was, that I'm trying to provide each family member with engagement during our travels (history for Roberts, nature for me, education & exercise for the boys). The emphasis on battlefields has been unintentionally heavy recently, but in my defense the battlefields often contain a bit of everything, including the nature & solitude that I'm craving. I’ll have to think about his point on future trips – I want a healthy balance, and it might be time to give the battlefields a rest.

Near the Roulette Farm

At Mumma Farm and Cemetery we took a hike. The easy, 1 mile Antietam TRACK trail loop features interpretive exhibits about the Mumma and Roulette Farms as it traverses the fields, streamside, woodland and pond habitats. The boys enjoyed a small break from more serious discussions to enjoy the quiet of the countryside: the small creek, a stone wall, the cows.

Roulette Farm

Back on the driving tour you’ll pass the stop where the Union armies advanced, and soon you’ll reach Bloody Lane. Once known as Sunken Road, this is the spot where 2,200 Confederates held off nearly 10,000 Union soldiers for three hours before falling back to the Piper Farm.

Crossing over Highway 34 the tour continues to Lower Bridge and the scene of the Final Attack, before ending at the Antietam National Cemetery. At first the Union dead were buried where they fell on the battlefield, but later they were re-interred on this hill along with soldiers who died in hospitals or combat in the region. Confederate soldiers were buried in Hagerstown & Frederick MD, and Shepherdstown VA (now WV).

Mumma Cemetery

Back to September 17, 1862; the battle ended about 6pm with no major shift in the lines of battle. Of the 100,000 troops involved, about 23,000 lay dead, wounded or missing. Late the next evening Gen. Robert E. Lee forded the Potomac to Virginia, and ultimately, the field was left to the Union Army.

The surrender at Appomattox Courthouse wouldn’t come for another 2 ½ years….

The confluence at Harpers Ferry

View from Jefferson Rock

Harpers Ferry is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers - the Shenandoah mirroring our trip up Interstate 81 from its headwaters in the mountains of Virginia, and the Potomac tracing a more easterly route through West Virginia on its journey to the Chesapeake Bay. However, it isn’t only the rivers that converge in this corner of WV; state lines, national parks and trails, and American history collide for an intense experience that has all the hallmarks of the perfect spring break destination.

St. Peter's Catholic Church

We started our morning closer to Interstate 81, where we had arrived late the previous evening after a day spent in Appomattox Court House and Natural Bridge State Park in Virginia. The short drive didn’t net the boys any new state lines crossed; it was only another mile east of Harpers Ferry (after our visit) that we re-entered Virginia from WV in order to access the bridge across the Potomac and into Maryland. This means the total # of states traversed that day was 6; we would still venture into Pennsylvania and cross New Jersey on our way to New York that evening.

View across Arsenal Square

Despite seemingly being at the center of everything, Harpers Ferry has an isolated feel to it. We utilized the large parking lot at the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Visitor Center and then took the free bus 2 miles into town as there isn’t really any public parking in what is termed “Lower Town”. Once there, we realized that the rivers effectively cut the town off from everything except the rest of West Virginia – and as it is the furthest, most northeast corner of the state, the town seems remote as you’re trying to get there. The seclusion is somewhat of an illusion though, as we soon found ourselves on Shenandoah Street with a network of roads and trails leading every which way, one of those being the Appalachian Trail. As it winds through the mountains from Maine to Georgia, the AT crosses the Potomac from Maryland utilizing the Potomac Railroad Bridge, skirts the original site of John Brown’s Fort, and then cuts right through the heart of town. Deciding to start our Harpers Ferry experience by getting a lay of the land, we started up the stone steps on the AT and worked our way up to Jefferson Rock.

Ruins of St. John's

Steep steps led past St. Peter’s Catholic Church and the ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church, one of the five earliest churches in Harpers Ferry (1852). Although Jefferson Rock is only ¼ mile from the fort, it is an ascent in elevation, which is what makes the rock a worthy destination.

“On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approachs the Patowmac, in quest of passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea… This scene is worthy a voyage across the Atlantic.”

This is how Thomas Jefferson described the view during his visit in 1783. The uppermost slab of Jefferson Rock originally rested on a narrow base that threatened to crumble from the weight of weather and tourists. Sometime around 1855 four pillars were placed under the corners of the slab, and today it is illegal to walk on, climb, ascend, descend or traverse Jefferson Rock or its supporting base rock.

John Brown's Fort

Having descended we made our way towards John Brown’s fort. In October 1859, determined to arm slaves and spark a rebellion, John Brown and his followers seized the armory at Harpers Ferry along with several other strategic points. The raid failed, and most of the men involved were killed or captured. Brown was tried and executed, and the nation took several large steps towards Civil War. Today the fort stands between Arsenal Square and the original site of the fort, and visitors can experience the raid at the John Brown Museum through film and interactive exhibits. (See this article for an interesting read on the “Second Raid on Harpers Ferry”)

Footbridge to C&O Canal and Maryland Heights

From there we headed to the Point to see where the Potomac and Shenandoah converge. This natural corridor where the Potomac cuts through the Blue Ridge Mountains has seen traffic for centuries: first American Indians, then European settlers. Robert Harper started a ferry across in 1747, and the rushing waters inspired George Washington to locate the US armory here some years later. Further downriver the bridge connecting Virginia to Maryland can be seen, and a train trestle that still is used by trains crosses towards the Harpers Ferry tunnel. In addition to the Potomac Railroad Bridge now carrying foot traffic and the Appalachian Trail, the ruins of the old Baltimore & Ohio (B & O) railroad bridge are still present. Once a majestic wood covered bridge that spanned the Potomac River, this was the bridge used during John Brown’s raid across the river. When Virginia seceded in April, 1861, the bridge remained a physical connection to the Union, one that would be rebuilt and destroyed nine times (four times by war, five times by floods).

View from footbridge back towards the Point

From the Point we descended the stairs to reach the trails along the Shenandoah River. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (the aforementioned C&O) National Historical Park stretches all the way from Washington DC to Cumberland in Maryland, and for the section in Harpers Ferry, the Potomac Heritage Trail follows the C&O Canal Towpath as well. This developing network of hiking and water trails extends all the way from western Pennsylvania to the Chesapeake Bay. On our visit the floodplain was awash with bluebells, and while there are trails to bring visitors back to the Visitor Center, we opted to return to the shuttle stop to save our strength for the next leg of our trip.

On the banks of the Shenandoah

There remained much of Harpers Ferry that went unexplored; from the Civil War battlefields at Bolivar heights, to General Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 battle line at Schoolhouse Ridge, to the panoramic views of the town and river from Maryland and Loudoun Heights. The 4,000 acres includes 20 miles of trails ranging from easy riverside strolls to four-mile hikes across Civil War battlefields to eight-mile adventures into the mountains; the best place to start planning your trip to Harpers Ferry is the National Parks website. For us however, this portion of the adventure came to a close – we crossed the two rivers, several state lines, and hundreds of years back into the present, and headed north to the site of the bloody Civil War battle, Antietam.

Note: not Jefferson Rock

Appomattox Court House

We stood on a country lane in Virginia, the sound of musket-fire and cannons bringing history to life as reenactors told the tale of the events that took place precisely 152 years previous. I enjoy putting effort into planning our family vacations, but even my attention to detail neglected to notice that our visit to Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park would coincide with the anniversary of the day in 1865 that General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in what signaled the end of the Confederacy.

Mikus and General Robert E. Lee on the steps of the McLean House

First of all, Appomattox. It’s pronounced ap-uh-mat-uh ks.

Fanning the flames

A second fact that I learned is that Appomattox Court House is the name of the village. None of the events of the surrender took place in the actual courthouse, but are instead named for the village. What was a stop along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road became the county seat with the formation of Appomattox county in 1845. The county courthouse was built in 1846, burned in 1892, was reconstructed in 1964, and today houses the visitor center and museum.

Appomattox county courthouse center, county jail on right

The Battle of Appomattox Court House was fought on the morning of April 9, 1865 and was the final engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Lee had abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond after the ten-month Siege of Petersburg. Retreating west, he hoped to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina but instead were pursued and cut off by Union forces.

Meeks stable

The surrender took place in the parlor of the McLean House. The terms asked that the Confederates pledge not to take up arms against the United States; they would not be imprisoned or prosecuted for treason, officers were allowed to keep their sidearms, the men were allowed to take home their horses and mules to carry out the spring planting, and food rations were provided for the starving troops. Custer and other Union officers purchased the furnishings of the room Lee and Grant met in as souvenirs. In 1893 the house was dismantled by a private company in preparation to move it to Washington DC as a war museum, but the piles of bricks and lumber were never moved. In the 1940s the National Park Service used plans and archaeological evidence to rebuild the house on its 1848 foundation, and today the reconstruction is open to the public as it would have looked at the time of the surrender.

Parlor of the McLean house: Lee sat at the marble table on the left, Grant at the wood table on the right

A few of the original village structures have survived, including the Clover Hill Tavern (1819) and its kitchen (now a bookstore). On the morning of April 12, 1865, about 5,000 Federal troops lined the Richmond-Lynchburg State Road to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. After the Stacking of Arms (weapons, flags and other accoutrements), the Confederates were given passes (paroles) that allowed the soldiers to return home; the Tavern was where these parole passes were printed. At the surrender ceremonies 28,000 Confederate soldiers passed by and stacked their arms. 26,300 of those are listed on the Appomattox Roster lists, while an additional 7,700 who were captured at Sailor's Creek three days earlier were treated as prisoners of war.

view of courthouse through Clover Hill Tavern

The surrender didn’t immediately end the Confederate States of America, but the terms set at Appomattox Court House governed the surrenders of all the other Confederate armies: Johnston’s army in NC, Taylor’s army in Alabama, and Smith’s army in Texas. The end of the war (and of the Confederacy) was final only after Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered on June 2^nd.

Nearby Longacre Bed and Breakfast

A few spots associated with the events of the surrender lie outside the village, including Lee and Grant’s headquarters sites, a small Confederate cemetery and the North Carolina monument. Three miles southeast is the town of Appomattox; the closest restaurants, stores and accommodations are located here. We spent the night at Longacre Bed and Breakfast, an English Tudor built in 1933. Located on two ½ acres of secluded gardens, the B&B features 5 guestrooms in the main house and 1 carriage house all with private bathrooms. The breakfast and hospitality couldn’t be beat; I highly recommend booking at Longacre if you’re looking for unique accommodations on the doorstep of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.

Lost Sea of Craighead Caverns

Spelunking, boating, waterfalls, campouts... all fun trips with the family. But what if I said one destination had all of these things!? In the middle of a mountain in east Tennessee is a lake so enormous as to merit the title of America’s largest underground lake in the Guinness Book of World Records. The 4.5 acre Lost Sea is part of an extensive cave system called Craighead Caverns, located near Sweetwater, TN in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. (The largest underground, non-subglacial lake in the world is Dragon's Breath Cave in Namibia, 4.9 acres in size.)

The caverns are named for their former owner, Cherokee Chief Craighead. In the “Council Room,” almost a mile from the entrance, a wide range of Indian artifacts have been found, indicating the cave was long used by the Cherokee for habitation and as a meeting place.

Starting with the 1820s, the first white settlers in the Tennessee Valley used the cave for storing potatoes and other vegetables, since the underground temperature is a cool 58° year-round. In subsequent years the cave was utilized by Confederate soldiers, who mined the cave for the saltpeter needed to manufacture gunpowder.

the descent underground

The Lost Sea was discovered in 1905 by a thirteen-year-old boy named Ben Sands. The water level of the lake fluctuates depending on precipitation, and by the time Ben had convinced his father to return to explore his discovery further, the water level had risen and concealed the entrance; local explorers only rediscovered it several years later. Today the lake is stocked with rainbow trout, and although fishing is not allowed, visitors can take a ride on the lake on one of four boats powered by electric motors.

In 1939, off-duty cave guides found the bones of a Pleistocene jaguar. A portion of the remains are now on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, while others (and plaster casts of the cat’s tracks) can be viewed at the visitor center. Around this time a mushroom farm was operating near the Historic Entrance in the “Big Room,” and it was in 1947 that the nightclub “Cavern Tavern” operated underground, complete with dance floor. It didn’t seem surprising to hear the cave had also long been used for moonshining and cockfights.

a few of the crawling tour options...

In the 1970s cave divers explored the Lost Sea and discovered several additional rooms that are completely filled with water, totaling more than 13 acres. The full extent of the underground sea has yet to be fully explored.

my spelunker!

In addition to historical relics, the caverns also contain stalactites, stalagmites and a waterfall. However, it’s the presence of cave flowers, rare crystalline structures called anthodites, which resulted in Craighead Caverns being added to the National Park Service list of National Natural Landmarks in 1974. According to the Lost Sea website, Craighead contains 50% of the world’s known formations of anthodites.

sleeping arrangements!

Want to explore the cave for yourself? Various tour packages are available (see website for details), ranging from an hour-long visit of the lake and main rooms, to an overnight “Wild Cave Tour” adventure that includes a cavern tour, various crawling tours in the undeveloped section of the cave, a boat ride on the Lost Sea and an overnight sleepover; this is the option that gets our vote! Roberts and Lauris emerged into the early morning fog absolutely covered in mud, tired from their adventure but with grins on their faces and quite a few stories to tell… It has already been decided that they won’t get to hog all the fun next time!

Thanks to Roberts for use of his photographs!