Last Friday night, a group of photographers got the unique opportunity to visit and photograph the Everglades National Park’s historic HM69 Nike Missile Site. The site, which was home to A Battery, 2nd Battalion 52 Air Defense Artillery Regiment from its construction in 1965 until it was decommissioned in 1979.
This star trail picture consists of 100 10 second exposures. Airplane trails were removed. A faint meteor is visible in the upper portion of the photo.
The unit deployed to the Homestead Area during the Cuban Missile Crises in 1962 and operated from temporary field locations until the permanent facilities were finished. The site, which was listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior Register of Historic Places on July 27th, 2004, as a Historic District, consists of three above-ground missile barns, a missile assembly building, barracks space, and a military working dog kennel.
This is a photo of the missile assembly building. The art work on the building is original and was painted by soldiers serving in A Battery.
The Nike Hercules missiles were medium to high-altitude interceptors intended to stop a Soviet bomber attack. They could be armed with either a conventual high-explosive warhead or a nuclear one. The nuclear warhead was intended to bring down multiple aircrafts at a time. As part of Everglades National Park’s month-long celebration of Dark Skies, Friday’s workshop allowed night access to the Nike Site.
This photo of the night sky over the Missile Barn shows the replica Nike Hercules missile on a launcher cradle.
Workshop Leader Robert Chaplin and his assistant Ozzie Gonzalez donated their time so that all proceeds from the event would flow through the Florida National Parks Association (FNPA) for use in Everglades National Park. After an introduction to the Nike Site by Park personnel, the 15 photographers learned night photography techniques and procedures at the Coe Visitors Center and then convoyed to the site.
Until 11 pm, long exposure, multiple exposure, and light painting were used to capture buildings, a replica missile, stars, meteors, and star trails and most participants were left with great images. There are ranger-led tours of the Nike Site during the winter season and year-round daily tours that include the site provided by the FNPA’s Everglades Institute. For more information on the Nike Missile Site, please visit www.nps.gov/ever/learn/historyculture/hm69.htm. For tour information go to https://evernpi.org/.
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