Fort Detrick

Today was the tour of Fort Detrick in Frederick.  We use the web site “Atlas Obscura” to find unique things in our location, things outside the regular ‘touristy stuff’.  Well one of the 15 items listed for my location is the “One-Million-Liter Test Sphere”.  This must have been in Atlas Obscura before 9/11 when a lot of bases were more open to the public.  This seems reasonable since Fort Detrick also has the Nallin Farm which is the National Register of Historic Places and would have likely ‘opened’ to the public to promote those sights (as well as reduce operating costs). Fortunately I am retired military so I retain access to military bases.  Fort Detrick does not allow photography inside the fence line so all photos used in this post are taken from public domain.
The One-Million-Liter Test Sphere was not that easy to find, even with GPS coordinates.  It is currently a little rustier than this picture shows and its visibility from street level leaves a lot to be desired.  The One-Million-Liter Test Sphere—also known as the Test Sphere, the Horton Test Sphere, the Cloud Study Chamber, Building 527, and the “Eight Ball” (or “8-ball”)—is a decommissioned biological warfare (BW) chamber and testing facility. It was constructed and utilized by the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories as part of its BW research program from 1951 to 1969.

The 8-Ball

 It is the largest aerobiology chamber ever constructed and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.  The sphere was used most notoriously during the Operation Whitecoat study that began in 1954 (shortly before the start of the Vietnam War). This biodefense medical research program was carried out by the United States Army using volunteers who were all conscientious objectors. These volunteers included many Seventh-day Adventists who wished to remain noncombatants but still help with the war effort. The purpose of the research, they were told, was to help defend troops and civilians against biological attacks. Whether that was entirely true and no offensive capabilities were being tested is open to debate. But many vaccines that are used to protect against biowarfare agents and viruses were first tested on human volunteers during Operation Whitecoat. And despite years of volunteers being hooked up to “The 8-Ball” and breathing in infected air, none died, at least during the test period. The point of all this was for the aerobiological study of “agents highly pathogenic to man and animals,” including nasty airborne biological weapons. “Hot” biological bombs were detonated inside the sphere, and the pathogen-filled munitions were tested in various ways. What happened to the majority of the volunteers after the tests is largely unknown. Of the 2,300 volunteers who took part in the various tests, the army has addresses for only 1,000. And of that 1,000, only 500 of the Whitecoats, as the volunteers became known, were ever surveyed after the tests had finished.
The 8-Ball is a 40-foot-diameter steel sphere with a one-inch-thick carbon steel hull and a one-million-liter total volume. Total weight: 131 tons. Around the equator of the sphere were a series of access ports and test chambers. Some of these cabinets were for sample collection and for exposing small animal species, up to the size of a monkey, to the pathogens. Another access port was for the whole-body exposure of larger animals, including sheep and goats. A further four exposure cubicles were designed specifically for exposing human volunteers via masks. For most of its operational existence it was enclosed within a 60-foot cube-shaped building sheathed in metal. The sphere itself was gas tight and climate controlled, and the entire complex routinely rated on a slight negative pressure so that any leaks would only allow clean air to enter, rather than allowing contaminated air to escape.  In 1975, the building housing the sphere burned down, but the sphere was largely undamaged. Today, it sits nestled and exposed between buildings at Fort Detrick, a decontaminated and decommissioned relic of the Cold War. Due to its historic significance, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The Nallin Farm was incorporated into Fort Detrick upon the post's expansion in 1955. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 23, 1974. The Federal style brick farmhouse was built in stages between the 1780s and the 1830s and serves as the residence of the Fort Detrick commanding officer. It is known on post as "Building 1652".

The Nallin Farm Springhouse and Bank Barn are closely associated with the Nallin Farm House. The barn is a good example of a fieldstone-built bank barn with a byre on the lower level and an earth ramp on the opposite side providing access to a haymow. 

The Bank Barn

A bank barn is a barn built into an earthen bank.  The hill of the bank allows access the ‘second’ floor where hay and feed are stored.  The animals are kept in the bottom floor barn area. The simple stone springhouse is the source of 3½ acre Nallin Pond. The barn and springhouse were built circa 1800. The Nallin Farm Springhouse and Bank Barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.