I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist at heart, and I love stories about secret facilities and whatnot. Today I was reading the ajc.com and stumbled across an article that mentioned one, which lead me down this path of discovery. To be clear I don’t think there is really any conspiracy here, but it is interesting to know that a secret test facility is close.
This is the first thing I found that started this whole bit of research:
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/former-secret-test-site-616831.html?cxtype=rss_news
Dawson Forest is owned by City of Atlanta and is planned for a water reservoir or a 2nd airport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_Forest
Which used to be the site of the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Nuclear_Aircraft_Laboratory
This is a link to the history of the testing facility:
http://www.pickensprogress.com/archive/insidedawsonforest.html
Another link to the history, summary basically:
http://northgeorgiamountainramblings.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/when-the-cold-war-came-to-dawsonville/
Youtube video about the facility
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6N2iV2_os
Here are some flickr pictures about it (some very good ones):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertlz/sets/72157600036376038/detail/
Some more pics in this page:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread230310/pg8
Some dude’s blog post about it:
http://northgeorgiamountainfreak.blogspot.com/2008/05/north-georgias-area-51-in-dawsonville.html
Some more pictures and a map:
AboveTopSecret.org link with a bunch of stuff:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread230310/pg15
Some videos from a guy who went there:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Ratz667#p/a
Facebook page about it:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dawson-Forest-GNAL/154640534555862?v=app_4949752878
Geocache site with some pics:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gallery.aspx?guid=40ed95a9-8c89-44da-83d8-130820a25849
Link to a pdf about the radiation measurements:
http://www.gaepd.org/Files_PDF/gaenviron/radiation/radrpt2002_dfw.pdf
Affect on pine beetles:
http://links.jstor.org/pss/2473643
Time Magazine article on the pines:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895712,00.html
Pictures (old ones)
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread230310/pg12
More pictures from satellite:
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/abandoned-government-lab/view/?service=1
Tags: conspiracy, dawson forest, gnal, government, nuclear, radiation, secret facility
jayntguru 
November 17, 2010 at 10:05 pm
In the early 70’s I visited the site not knowing what it was while riding motorcycle. It was blocked with a chain which was down so I rode in. I must have missed the no trespassing signs! First was a large tin building on the rightlike a hanger, with what I thought at the time was a very large parking lot. Tools were still lying around. A hammer wrench ect. Off to one side of the ‘parking lot’ was a at least 2 or 3 story yellow building with very thick walls. The building looked as it had been shelled. All of this was on the top of the hill.
On down the road I came to an area that looked to have lookout towers, it was starting to freak me out a mite, by this time I knew I probably wasn’t to be there. A little on down the road was an opening large enough to drive a truck in going under ground. On signs anywhere. I shined my headlight in and could see the entrance went down hill and was flooded. I later learned this was the reactor site and water from the Etowah River was used for cooling.
there were also tunnels large enough to drive a small car through running underground from the top of the hill to the reactor site. Today little can be seen, but I still can find the reactor site and I doubt if the yellow building was destroyed.
January 19, 2021 at 3:01 am
Good info. Lucky me I discovered your blog by accident (stumbleupon). I have saved as a favorite for later!