This Itinerary Is Classified
Interested in espionage? Want to learn about the Man Who Saved the World? Love craft beer and wine?
The Cold War Museum is located at Vint Hill, the former Top Secret signals intelligence base just outside of Gainesville, Virginia, in one of the former Vint Hill Farm Station buildings used during the Cold War by the United States Army, the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency to intercept and interpret coded messages.
The museum—a charitable organization dedicated to education, preservation and research on the global, ideological and political confrontations between East and West from the end of World War II to the dissolution of the Soviet Union—offers free admission and tours by appointment.
"We can honor the service of people who lived in the secret world on our behalf, and are not allowed to tell their own stories," said Jason Hall, executive director.
Eyewitness accounts and unique artifacts from Cold War professionals are incorporated into the museum's tours, which include exhibits on signals intelligence, image intelligence, aerial surveillance, civil defense, Berlin, the East German secret police (STASI), the Cuban Missile Crisis, and events such as the Pueblo and Liberty incidents.
Right next door, Old Bust Head Brewing Company and Vint Hill Craft Winery offer tours, and Covert Café serves breakfast and lunch.
Learn more about what a Vint Hill itinerary could offer your group at vinthill.com.
Written by Cassie Westrate, staff writer for Groups Today.
Photo courtesy of the Cold War Museum.
