You can join a National Park Service park ranger for a ranger-led walk through the pre-Manhattan Project community of Wheat on Wednesday, June 19. The former community was in what is now west Oak Ridge.
The free program on June 19 is presented by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. It is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at Blair Road and the North Boundary Greenway. The walk will be about 1.5 miles, so wear comfortable walking shoes and bring water to drink, a press release said. Stops will include “downtown” Wheat, George Jones Memorial Baptist Church, Roane College site, and the Crawford Cumberland Presbyterian Memorial. There will be stories about the development and significance of each site, the press release said.
Wheat is located on Blair Road 0.3 miles off of the Oak Ridge Turnpike, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If you need directions, maps are available at the National Park desk in the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge or call (865) 482-1942.
The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. Oak Ridge was built as part of that project. Besides Oak Ridge, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Visitors are encouraged to visit the Manhattan Project National Historical Park website for more information on the park at https://www.nps.gov/mapr/oakridge.htm. Follow the park on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ManhattanProjectNPS, on the park’s Twitter feed at @MnhtnProjectNPS, or on Instagram @manhattanprojectnp.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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