‘Nike Base’ in Worth County once housed nuclear missiles
Staff Photo: Tara Fletcher
By Tara Fletcher
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SYLVESTER — In the early 1960s, most Worth County residents were unaware that two military batteries (just a few miles past Sylvester’s city limits) were each housing 11 missiles with 2-megaton nuclear warheads and one with a 10-megaton nuclear warhead.
The so-called Nike Base was decommissioned in 1966, but it continued its somber legacy afterward when it became a group youth home, an elderly care facility and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.
The separate parts of the base are currently owned by two private, local residents who operate businesses on the properties.
Although most signs of a once buzzing military base are long gone, a few still remain. They stand today as a legacy to the Cold War that had our country fearing — and preparing for — nuclear war.
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