Whittier's Buckner Building

When I was home in Eagle River this Christmas break, I went with several friends to explore the amazing Buckner building in Whittier, AK. I had heard and read some about the Buckner building, and had visited it briefly with my Dad and little brother, Elias last summer. I had been wanting to return with some adventurous comrades to explore it more in depth. I finally got my chance.

The town of Whittier itself is strange enough to warrant a visit. To reach it, you have to drive about an hour south of Anchorage, then drive through a 2.5 mile tunnel through the mountains. Trains and cars take turns in what is one of the longest tunnels in North America. Only recently was the tunnel converted to accomodate cars. Before, you had to load your car on the train. The town was built in 1942 as a secret military base to help protect us from the Japanese during WWII, seeing how Alaska is the closest U.S. land to the Japanese. Apparently the location of Whittier was selected because it was an ice-free port, is well protected by mountains, and is hard to see from the air due to the almost continual rain (slogan: it's always shittier in Whittier). The base the military built consisted of two gigantic buildings. One of them, Begich Towers is still occupied by most of the town residents. The other, the BB, was completely abandoned in 1947, merely 5 years after it was built.

It was designed to be a completely self contained city, and so has a wide variety of sights, including bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, furnaces, elevators, prisons, etc.

I managed to get a few friends, JD, Chris and John to go with me to explore this place. Donning headlamps and grungy clothes, we drove 2 hours south along the Seward highway through the tunnel.

The outside of the BB:


The prison in the basement:

Some sort of radioactive room

Stalactite-laden access tunnel in the wall

All in all, an awesome trip. You can see the rest of my photos (including the roof and bathroom pictures) here.

Enjoy!!