Trinity Site, New Mexico

The site of the world's first nuclear blast, the Trinity shot of the Manhattan Project, is on the north end of the 4,000 square mile White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The site consists of a fenced area that encloses much of the ground-zero area, with a monument at its center. Though the crater formed by the explosion has long since been filled in, there is a portion of the blast area at ground zero which has been left intact for display purposes, visible through windows in the canopy that covers it (the canopy serves the dual function of protecting it from erosion, and protecting visitors from it, as the original ground is still quite radioactive). Small pieces of Trinitite, the fused silica rock formed by the intense heat of the blast, still litters the Trinity Site, and it is radioactive enough to fog photographic film.