Similar shelters were built throughout the United States, and Civil Defense authorities encouraged homeowners to stock them with provisions in case of nuclear attack. Lassiter had one made of concrete blocks and iron rails inside the basement of her 110 S. Ruth Lassiter, on the other hand, said her shelter used to make her feel safe. In fact, her family has never used the room for protection. "I can't imagine staying in here for any length of time," she said. On a recent afternoon, Martin measured the shelter for the first time: 58 inches by 83 inches. The home's first owner, Julian Gissel, built it with the house in 1954 for him, his wife and their four children, Martin said. It was constructed using large cinder blocks. "It's definitely a room you could go to for protection." "It's under the front porch in our house," Martin said. It wasn't until later that she and her husband discovered their Enfield Lane home on a document from the Oak Ridge Public Library that listed private fallout shelters in the area. After all, the room had no door attached to it. She and her husband had assumed the space was a darkroom. When Bobbie Martin bought her house, she had no idea it contained a fallout shelter. He's discovered that numerous private fallout shelters remain in and around Oak Ridge - some that owners still reminisce about and others whose stories have been lost as the homes have changed hands over the decades. Paskel is compiling research on fallout shelters in the area in hopes of one day writing a book. They address an era that began 64 years ago this month when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Years later, with this Cold War memory still burning in his mind, Paskel sits in his office at his Oak Ridge home amid piles of research and artifacts he's recovered. With every step he took, he said he waited for a mushroom cloud to pop up and consume him. Michael Paskel remembers the fear he felt as a child as he walked to his Corryton home from school.
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