Visit the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in New Mexico

It was a cold March morning when we drove to Los Alamos, New Mexico to visit the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. There were light snow flurries as we drove to the town. A sharp, biting wind met us as we exited the car. Was the weather a harbinger of what we were about to witness in the secret location where the A-bomb was designed during WWII?

About Manhattan Project National Historical Park

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park is a combined unit, separated into three locations across three states. I know, that sounds a little bit confusing.

The historical park is in three locations. There is a site in Hanford, Washington. Another site is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. And the third location (the subject of this trip) is in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Each site played a part in developing the A-bomb. A factory is Washington made plutonium. Uranium was enriched in Tennessee. And the atomic bomb was designed and built in New Mexico.

The Los Alamos location is probably most famous, as it was the meeting grounds where great scientific minds like J. Robert Oppenheimer designed the weapon that would change WWII and history thereafter.

Getting to the Los Alamos Site

Los Alamos, New Mexico is a small town, tucked high up in the mountains. We drove through a few winding, switchback steep hills to get to the town.

Finding our way through town to the National Park Site proved somewhat difficult. We were unable to find our way, and found ourselves on the wrong side of one-way streets more than once. I think we circled around the visitor center a couple of times.

But, we eventually found where we were supposed to be. Sort of. We found parking and some of the locations before finding the visitors center. At least we were in the right general area.

The Visitor Center

The Visitor Center is a small building in downtown. There is not the customary large national park sign we find at other park sites.

However, we visited and got a map of some surrounding locations tied to the park. A visit will require a self-guided walk through a number of locations throughout downtown. I advise starting at the visitor center to obtain a map. It makes your walk through the sites make sense.

While at the Visitor Center, we got our National Parks Passport stamped. This stamp was fun. Since the location is one of three park sites, the park stamp looked like a 1/3 piece of a pie. If we visit the other locations, we can complete that pie with those stamps.

We also collected the Junior Ranger books for my kids to complete during our visit. The kids eagerly returned to the center to get their Junior Ranger badges.

After collecting our map, we headed out into the chilly, windy winter day to begin our scavenger hunt of Manhattan Project locations.

Walking Through Town

The Los Alamos park site is unusual in that you are walking through the town’s streets to observe locations. Some of the homes are occupied. Others are open for you to enter and explore some facet of the national park site.

We did our bit, walking through the town streets to observe the locations indicated on our map.

We walked past the homes that were used by the scientists who settled in the clandestine site during WWII.

A couple of those homes could be entered. Inside, we found rooms straight out of the 1940s and Cold War eras, complete with fully accessorized kitchens and living rooms with newspapers and magazines from those decades.

We even found some fallout shelter essential from the Cold War days.

Some of the buildings had museum like displays. My favorite had some of the medals and honors bestowed upon the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, including a Noble Prize medal.

Exploring the Time Before the Manhattan Project

Los Alamos was a top secret town during the WWII years. Before that time, however, the town was occupied by the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived throughout the Four Corners states.

We saw remnants of those ancient cultures as we walked throughout the town. It was a great tie to some of our other favorite New Mexico National Park sites, including Pecos and Bandalier.

We also happened past a small cabin with a rich history. The cabin was built by Victor Romero, who applied for 15 acres of land under the Homestead Act of 1862. Victor built the cabin for his wife and six children in 1913.

The Romero family used the cabin until about 1938.

The land and cabin were on the site of what later became the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The land was claimed by the U.S. Government in 1943.

The cabin, thus, became a part of the Manhattan Project. As such, it was given to the Los Alamos Historical Society and relocated from the laboratory site to its current location in 1985.

That’s fortunate, because a devastating fire in 2000 destroyed all other homestead structures in the town, leaving only the Romero Cabin to represent a significant part of Los Alamos history from the days before the Manhattan Project.

Being a Kid in Los Alamos

Of course, the Manhattan Project was a top secret operation. That meant that family members often were left in the dark about their loved one’s job.

While many military personnel and scientists met behind closed doors during the day, life continued outside those doors for family members.

For example, children still went to school. Although there were some noticeable differences. We enjoyed seeing ID cards of kids who had limited access to the top secret locations.

In fact, every person associated with the Manhattan Project needed ID. General Groves had a strict “no badge no entry” policy. So family members had to wear their ID badges at all times. That must have been difficult. My kids lose their school IDs at least once a year.

The visitor center also had puzzles and other games played by the Manhattan Project-era children.

Final Thoughts

We did enjoy visiting the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and learning a little about the WWII and Cold War history.

The park is a unique entry in to the National Park System. We have only visited one of the three locations. It was, however, enjoyable to take a step back in time as we walked through the sites throughout town. We enjoyed going into the homes and getting a respite from the cold. Did I mention it was cold? Because my kids reminded me every two minutes.

I definitely would recommend pairing this park site with one of the other nearby sites (Bandalier National Monument and Calles Caldera National Preserve are the closest sites).

If you’re not interested in visiting other park sites, you could make a day of a visit to Los Alamos. In addition to the National Park site you could visit the Bradbury Science Museum or Los Alamos History Museum.

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