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Mars Bluff, South Carolina: Atom Bomb Dropped Here

In 1958 an atom bomb fell out of a plane and blew a crater into the gummy soil of Mars Bluff, South Carolina. The atomic part didn't explode.

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Home foundation sign.

Atom Bomb Dropped Here

Phone GPS brought us right to the empty lot. You can see the kiosk and bomb cutout from the road, through the trees. The information at the kiosk is very interesting. The crater isn't entirely filled with water, and the middle is dark enough for you to realize the thing is deep. There is a bit of a trail behind all of this; follow it and you will go past some junk and then over a bridge and then you arrive at the ruins of the house foundation, which is labeled with a sign that doesn't face you and is starting to be covered up. You can see the blocks and bricks still there.

Be sure to go down the road, past the abandoned trailer park, and park in the abandoned gas station to take pictures/read the historical marker.

[John, 01/16/2015]

The house belonged to the Gregg family, which narrowly avoided being pulverized by the bomb.

Plywood cutout of bomb.

Atom Bomb Dropped Here

There's a much easier way to get to the Mars Bluff atomic bomb crater than driving through that giant abandoned trailer park off of Route 301 (Although you should still stop at the entrance to the trailer park to read the historical highway maker).

The easy way to get to the bomb landing site is to just go to Lucius Circle and loop around to the back. Conveniently enough, there's a vacant lot (4758 Lucius Circle) in front of the path that leads to the crater, so you don't even have to slog through someone's yard to get there.

The kiosk, the plywood cutout of the bomb, and the rickety observation deck are all still back there, as is the crater itself, which looks more and more like a water-filled depression in the ground rather than something caused by a bomb blast. Still, definitely worth the detour off of Route 301 to see it.

[Dean Jeffrey, 11/15/2014]
Atom Bomb Dropped Here

The trail head is in the back right corner of the property. The signs are all gone but you can see the post that it was one. Once you walk back a bit you will see the Gregg's house foundation sign. Keep walking.

[Nv, 12/14/2011]
Atomic Bomb Crater

In 1958 an unarmed A bomb was dropped near Florence, SC near Mars Bluff. An investor bought the land and put a large trailer park next to the crater. The land was taken in lieu of taxes owed. On the day we visited, we saw signs and a team of surveyors.

[C. J. Johnson, 07/13/2008]

Bomb fragments are on display at a museum in Florence, SC.

Atom Bomb Dropped Here

Address:
Crater Rd/4776 Lucius Circle, Mars Bluff, SC
Directions:
On E. Palmetto St./US 301, roughly 6.5 miles east of Florence. The marker is on the north side of the highway, 1.2 miles east of Freedom Blvd or .3 miles west of Francis Marion Rd/Hwy 327. To reach the crater, drive up the road (Crater Rd) next to the marker, then turn sharply right as it bends around an abandoned trailer park. When you get to a gate leading out of the trailer park, you'll see a small, overgrown path on the left leading into the woods, to the crater. Private property. Visitors are assumed to have gained permission from the owner to visit.
RA Rates:
Worth a Detour
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

Bomb Crater MarkerBomb Crater Marker, Florence, SC - < 1 mi.
Grave of Woman Who Pretended to be a ManGrave of Woman Who Pretended to be a Man, Florence, SC - 6 mi.
Confederate Tributes to the Pee DeeConfederate Tributes to the Pee Dee, Florence, SC - 6 mi.
In the region:
Grave of Spaghetti, the Carny Mummy, Laurinburg, NC - 42 mi.

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