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Manhattan Project: Walk through Wheat with park ranger on Sept. 14

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Wheat Community Before the Manhattan Project
The Wheat community before the Manhattan Project during World War II in the area that is now west Oak Ridge. (Photo submitted by National Park Service)

Join a park ranger for a walk through the pre-Manhattan Project community of Wheat on Saturday, September 14.

Wheat was in what is now west Oak Ridge, around the area of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. It was one of several local communities displaced by the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

Oak Ridge and two other sites involved in the Manhattan Project—Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico—are now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

[Read more…]

McDaniel completes Oak Ridge oral history project

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Keith McDaniel interviews Oak Ridge Historian Ray Smith at the Oak Ridge History Museum for the Center for Oak Ridge Oral History. (Submitted photo)

Filmmaker Keith McDaniel has completed a nine-year project to document the oral histories of about 400 current and former Oak Ridge residents, including those connected to the Manhattan Project during World War II.

The life stories were used to build a digital collection for the Oak Ridge Public Library’s Center for Oak Ridge Oral History, or COROH. McDaniel was part of the group that made plans for the COROH and, following the city’s receipt of an annual grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, took the contract for the documentary work.

“A lot of original Oak Ridgers were dying and getting older,” McDaniel said in a press release from Carson-Newman University. “We felt it was really important to collect their memories, to collect their stories.”

The one-on-one filmed interviews gave those connected to the Manhattan Project, and later to the city at large, the opportunity to share their life stories, the press release said.

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Learn more about Wheat during walk with ranger

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The Wheat community before the Manhattan Project during World War II in the area around what is now west Oak Ridge. (Photo submitted by National Park Service)

You can learn more about Wheat, a community that was here before the Manhattan Project, during a walk with a National Park Service ranger on Saturday, July 27.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the ranger-led walk starting at 10 a.m. July 27. The program is free, and it will start at Blair Road and the North Boundary Greenway.

“The walk will be about one-and-one-half 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.”

[Read more…]

Learn more about ‘Secret City,’ Manhattan Project during bus tours in August

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oakridge_graphite-reactor_mainpg_1_1
The X-10 Graphite Reactor with workers. (U.S. Department of Energy)

Two new bus tours offered in Oak Ridge in August will allow you to learn more about the unique heritage of the Manhattan Project, a press release said. The bus tours are the “Secret City” and “Oak Ridge Museums” tours.

The “Secret City” tour will be led by a National Park Service ranger, last three hours, and include that day’s admission to the American Museum of Science and Energy.

“During the Manhattan Project, a community was created almost overnight to accomplish the monumental task of producing enriched uranium on a large scale,” the press release said. “During the tour, visitors can develop an understanding of what life was like during World War II in a city behind a fence that no one was supposed to discuss. The tour will also include a visit to the X-10 Graphite Reactor, a National Historic Landmark, and the world’s first nuclear reactor designed and built for continuous operation.”

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Learn about secrecy, security, spies on July 20

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The Oak Ridge Turnpike Gatehouse is pictured above on the west end of town. (Submitted photo)

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present a program about secrecy, security, and spies on Saturday, July 20. The program is scheduled from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Turnpike Gatehouse in Oak Ridge.

“The program will give visitors some insight to what life was like in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project with all the security, the need for secrecy, and the worry of spies,” a press release said. “This program is free and open to the public; parking is limited, so please try to carpool if possible.”

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project: Walk with a ranger, learn more about Wheat

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The former Wheat community in what is now west Oak Ridge (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

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.

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project: Ride with a ranger on North Boundary Greenway on Saturday

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You can join a National Park Service park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway on Saturday, May 25, 2019, to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

You can join a National Park Service park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway on Saturday to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years.

It’s a free program presented by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The bike ride will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Turnpike Gatehouse and travel down Big Oak Trail and North Boundary Road, a press release said.

“Along the ride, we will explore the former communities that were here before the Manhattan Project,” the press release said. “Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area.”

[Read more…]

Atomic Heritage Foundation launches “Oak Ridge Innovations” program

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“Nuclear medicine, nuclear energy, nuclear weapons. All of that goes back to Oak Ridge,” explains Denise Kiernan, bestselling author of “The Girls of Atomic City.” Oak Ridge, Tennessee has been a center for nuclear research since General Leslie Groves selected it as the Manhattan Project’s uranium enrichment site in 1942. Today, Oak Ridge is the home of many leading scientific and engineering research facilities, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Atomic Heritage Foundation has launched a new online interpretive program, “Oak Ridge Innovations,” to explore Oak Ridge’s legacies for science and society today. Available on AHF’s “Ranger in Your Pocket” website, “Oak Ridge Innovations” includes more than 30 video vignettes describing ORNL’s history and current research in fields such as energy, particle physics, computer science, and medicine, a press release said. The program was developed in partnership with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers East Tennessee Section and funded by the IEEE Foundation. Featuring perspectives from current ORNL scientists and Manhattan Project veterans, the program illuminates Oak Ridge’s history and how the laboratory responds to some of today’s biggest challenges, the press release said.

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project public program: Ride with a ranger on Saturday, April 27

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Join a park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway in Oak Ridge to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 70 years. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present a free program at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 29, 2017. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

Join a park ranger for a bike ride on Melton Lake Greenway in Oak Ridge to learn more about the city’s history. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the free program at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 27, 2019. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

 

You can join a park ranger for a bike ride down Melton Lake Greenway and learn more about the city’s history later this month.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the free program on Saturday, April 27, at 10 a.m. The program will begin at Elza Gate Park, a former entry point to the once-secret city, and continue down Melton Lake Greenway.

“Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area,” a press release said.

The ride will be approximately eight miles round-trip; it is recommended that visitors bring drinking water, the press release said. [Read more…]

(For members) New lithium building a priority as ceiling materials fall in old one

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Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

 

A new lithium processing facility that could be built in Oak Ridge is a priority for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which has cited worker safety and materials that have fallen from the ceiling at the old building now used at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

As a priority, the new lithium processing facility is right behind the number one priorities: the production of plutonium pits at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and uranium processing at the Uranium Processing Facility, which is now under construction at Y-12, said Charles Verdon, NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs.

NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty cited the materials that have fallen from the ceiling at the old Y-12 building used for lithium processing, 9204-2, or Beta 2, in her response to questions during a budget hearing with the U.S. House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee on Tuesday.

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Obituary: James Edward ‘Ed’ Westcott

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James Edward "Ed" Westcott

James Edward “Ed” Westcott

James Edward “Ed” Westcott, Sr., 97, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, passed away peacefully at his daughter’s home, where he lived, on March 29, 2019.

He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 20, 1922, to parents Jamie Rupert Westcott and Lucille Green Westcott, who preceded him in death. Ed had one brother, Hugh “Buddy” Westcott, who also preceded him in death.

Ed was a member of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church.

He grew up in Nashville, and he graduated from Andrews High School and attended the Watkins Art School in Nashville, Tennessee. He received his training in photography from the Photo Craft Studio, Shadow Art Studio, and from an internship with the National Youth Administration.

He was married June 16, 1941, to a former Nashvillian, Esther Seigenthaler Westcott, who passed away in 1996. [Read more…]

‘HerStory’ photo exhibit at Oak Rige History Museum

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K-25-69 Close up of welding in prefabrecation shop 1944 bld.300 (Photo by Ed Westcott)

K-25-69 Close up of welding in prefabrecation shop  1944  bld.300 (Photo by Ed Westcott)

 

The Oak Ridge History Museum will host “HerStory: A Photography Exhibition of Women in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open Friday, March 29, and will be open every Friday and Saturday during the month of April.

“From janitor to homemaker to chemist, the women of the Manhattan Project worked hard and talked little,” a press release said. “During World War II, Oak Ridge was a government town of 70,000 workers, primarily women who lived in a camp-like environment of barbed wire, security checkpoints, and code words.  Workers were fingerprinted, interviewed, assigned a job, and given a clearance badge. Housing was limited and cramped and often unheated. Food at the cafeterias was in short supply and lines were long.” [Read more…]

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