Exploring the Secret City: Oak Ridge offers intriguing festival, attractions

Photo by Bob Fowler

Cedar Bluff Intermediate School student Cecilia McKinley gets a closeup view of a camera in the animation exhibit at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge in October 2007.

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OAK RIDGE - For a former secret city with a relatively brief history, residents savor and celebrate Oak Ridge's storied past, and visitors come to learn about it.

That's especially true this year and next, says Katy Brown, director of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Atomic City became a true community 65 years ago, Brown said, and next year marks the 50th anniversary of its incorporation.

It was in 1943 that Oak Ridge, launched a year earlier to help build the world's first atomic bomb, truly became a new city undergoing birth pains - sometimes literally.

The first baby was born in Oak Ridge Hospital in 1943. The first residents of the city's unique "cemesto" homes - made of a blend of asbestos and cement - moved in that year.

The first church services were held at United Church, Chapel-on-the-Hill, Brown said, and the now famous Graphite Reactor at the X-10 Plant, now called Oak Ridge National Laboratory, "went critical" with a controlled nuclear chain reaction for the first time in November 1943.

For all those reasons and others, "I think it's a great year for people to come to Oak Ridge to visit," Brown said.

"We're not going to be having huge events for all of these things that happened 65 years ago, but we hope to commemorate some of them," she said.

Now a city of nearly 28,000 residents, Oak Ridge has two well-known museums that are tourist draws, miles of walking trails, a placid lake that's become a national venue for rowing regattas, and other attractions.

The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge is in the former Highland View Elementary School off Outer Drive, and it's celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

About 60,000 visitors a year stroll through the rambling wood-frame building, which spans 54,000 square feet, said Selma Shapiro, now a museum volunteer after being at its helm from its startup.

"All kinds of wonderful things are about to happen" at the museum, Shapiro said.

The Appalachian room is being redone and a new dinosaur exhibit is taking shape, she said.

For more information about the museum, visit www.childrensmuseum ofoakridge.org.

The American Museum of Science and Energy on Tulane Avenue is also highlight for visitors.

It first opened in 1949 in an old wartime cafeteria and was then called the Museum of Atomic Energy.

The current location opened in 1975, and its new name was adopted three years later.

Now, the museum hosts 120,000 visitors annually, spokeswoman Lissa Clarke said. Last year, residents of all 50 states and 30 foreign countries checked out exhibits in the 52,000-square-foot building, she said.

Along with permanent exhibits depicting different forms of energy, the museum is noted for hosting high-profile traveling displays, summer camps for area youngsters, and various competitions - all with scientific themes.

For more information, visit www.amse.org.

While there is plenty to see year-round in Oak Ridge, it's in June that the city showcases its history and diversity.

City officials are deep in the planning stages for the sixth annual Secret City Festival, scheduled for June 20-21.

Last year's event was attended by more than 25,000 people and won accolades from the Southeast Tourism Society, Brown said.

Along with musical entertainment each night, the festival includes a World War II battle re-enactment, exhibits and numerous activities for children.

Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625.

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