Above All State Park - Warren, CT - Abandoned Air Force Radar Sites on Waymarking.com

From the Hartford Courant:

A Radar Once Watched The Skies Over Warren's Above All State Park
February 11, 2017
Peter Marteka

"At 31 acres, Above All State Park in Warren is tiny, one of the smallest in Connecticut's vast system. It has no parking area. There are no blazed trails or overlooks.

But I enjoyed every minute of a recent visit because it has ruins — an old radar site dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. Above All was once part of the SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) Air Defense Network. The enormous system of computers and hundreds of radar installations provided a safety net across the country, aiming to identify Soviet bombers before they could drop their nuclear payloads.

According to John Ramsey of coldwar-ct.com, the radar site was a "gap-filler" and provided low-altitude coverage out to a range of 65 miles. The site was active from June 1957 to June 1968. He noted that the site was unmanned and consisted of the radar and tower along with the building that contained the equipment and a diesel generator.

The entrance to the park is located along the aptly named Above All Road in the northwest Connecticut town of Warren. Although the radar and equipment have been removed, the cinder block building remains, along with the generator room and portions of a chain-link fence that protected the site.

Although vandalized by graffiti artists over the years, the building is in relatively good shape. It is kind of a creepy setting, with water dripping from the ceiling and echoing in the damp emptiness as you peer inside. Adding to the creepiness factor is it takes your eyes a few moments to adjust as you peer inside. The main building is empty; the ceiling paint is peeling and metal roof is rusting.

Around the back is the generator room with its rusting machinery and air shafts. Someone has painted "Radar is fun" on the walls with a giant smiling face, the artist apparently a big fan of abandoned radar sites. Around the back is the foundation on which the dome radar tower once stood. Several unmarked trails go off into the surrounding forest.

According to the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the SAGE network was "far and away the most grandiose system engineering effort and the largest electronic system ever contemplated," consisting of hundreds of radars, 24 direction centers and three combat centers."

Related Web Sites: [Web Link] Squadron number: Not listed Served at this site :: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please post pictures of the sites as they exist now and feel free to share any pictures you may have from when the sites were operational. Access maybe limited permission maybe needed to gain closeup access to some sites or to photograph them.

We will only accept waymarks with supporting data. If you served at the site you can count that as a site visit.

If you served at the site please share some experiences. The following link may help you find information on the sites you visit.
(visit link)

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   06/30/2022 childofatom visited it