Cold War missile site to open to public

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. (WSVN) -- A new exhibit called "To The Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis" will soon open to the public showcasing Kennedy's tense conversations about national security from the Oval Office.

At the same time, a historic missile site within Everglades National Park remains virtually unchanged some 50 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The site reveals new details several decades after that history changing event in 1962. The United States Army quickly established a presence that would remain in the area for many years. "They rushed soldiers to South Florida," said Ryan Meyer, Nike Hercules Missile Site Coordinator, "to defend Miami and all of South Florida, and those soldiers set up in the farm fields, right outside the park."

Meyer said the Nike Hercules Missile Site was an active military site all the way to 1979 and is one of the best preserved Cold War relics in the nation. At one point it held 120 military men who would roll out the missiles for any perceived threat in the sky. Not a single missile had to be fired during that period.

Now, the missile site serves another purpose: to teach about a by-gone ear of living under a nuclear threat. "My mom was living in Miami," said Meyer, "and she remembers doing duck and cover drills."

Tours at the site begin in December. Visit the link above for more information.

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