Swanton ICBM Silo, Vermont

Though possibly the least militarized state in the Union, Vermont has two intercontinental ballistic missile silos, no longer in service - as missile silos, that is. This one, near Swanton, is used as an equipment yard by the Chevalier Drilling Company, a local drilling contractor that has owned the silo for over thirty years. The other silo is owned by the town of Alburgh, near the Canadian border, and is used as a maintenance yard. Both were built in the early 1960s, part of a group of 12 that surrounded the nuclear base at Plattsburgh, New York. The missiles were Atlas Fs, rated at 4 megatons, with a 6,000 mile range. They were aimed at Russia. The silos are 175 feet deep, and were connected to an underground Launch Control Center. 45-ton doors would open at the surface to raise and launch the missile. Despite a cost of around $15 million each in 1960 dollars, the silos were operational for just three years, from 1962-1965, and according to many were obsolete before they were even finished.