NIKE-AJAX MISSILE SITE N-75 WALKING TOURS

ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. – At 2 p.m. on Nov. 20, guests can visit one of the Cold War’s few surviving Army Air-Defense Posts at Nike Park in Carrollton, Va.

Local historian Albert Burckard hosts a short presentation and a walking tour of this site which contains the original barracks, mess hall, administration and recreation building, officer/non-commissioned officer family housing, fueling area and underground missile magazines. Also visible are the fueling area and concrete slabs that mark the location of the underground missile magazines.

The event is free and open to the public.

At the conclusion of World War II, tension existed between the Soviet Union - and its satellites - and the democratic counties of the West. This tension, or Cold War, continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. During this time of widening ideological beliefs, escalating tensions were quantifiable by both sides’ costly defense spending and propaganda. Fear of Soviet bombings sparked the United States’ creation of a Nike surface-to-air missile system ready to protect major metropolitan areas as well as large military installations like those found in the Hampton Roads. In the U.S., these air defense bases encompassed the areas that they were built to protect. The Carrollton Nike Missile Battery was operational by 1954 and was one of eight bases that made up the Norfolk Defense Area. As with all continental bases, it consisted of two areas: a launch area and a control area. These two sites were connected by an underground cable system that enabled them to communicate.

After the Nike-Ajax system was upgraded to the Nike-Hercules system which carried nuclear warheads. Some bases, but not N-75, were converted to house both Ajax and Hercules missiles. In 1963, the base ceased to be used as a missile site, and the Army Signal Corps used it as a RADAR site. The former Nike-Ajax missile base is now home to the Isle of Wight County Parks and Recreation Department. The park, over 100 acres in size, offers different recreational activities and features softball and soccer fields, basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts, picnic areas,  nature and mountain bike trails, skate park, playgrounds, senior center and a recreation hall. In addition, there are fishing opportunities in Jones Creek.

Nike Park, open from 8:30 a.m. until dusk, is located at 13036 Nike Park Road in Carrollton.

For more information, contact Isle of Wight County’s Historic Resources Department at (757) 357-0115.