Soon
after the Cuban missile crisis, nuclear weapons were brought to the Everglades
area to try to explode any missiles that might come from Cuba. In the middle of
the National Park, a small area was fenced in with all sorts of security.
Inside
three barns were stored several Nike Missiles. The plan was that these would be
pulled out quickly and launched at incoming missiles.
In
the meantime, the soldiers living here were sleeping in tents with mosquitoes
and the hot summer temperatures. The story is that they were allowed one shower
a week when they traveled to a local military base. This was not an easy
posting.
Some of the men did some murals to while away their time here. To me,
“Mothership” reminds me of the movie “Independence Day”. I wonder what the
meaning was to men in the 60’s and 70’s?
The
volunteer who gave this tour was very knowledgeable. It was an unexpected tour
for the Everglades, but very good.
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