A relic of Cold War history right here in the Everglades.
In the 1950's as the Cold War was beginning, the primary threat to the US was Soviet bombers delivering nuclear weapons by flying over the North Pole to America. To protect themselves, the Americans deployed several hundred Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missiles at bases across the northern US--virtually every sizable city had a couple batteries of Nike-Hercules missiles nearby. Most of these missiles carried conventional high-explosive warheads, but a few were fitted with the W-31 nuclear warhead, which had an adjustable yield of 10-40 kilotons. The nukes were intended to be detonated at high altitude to take out entire formations of Russian bombers as they approached.
Then in October 1962, American spy planes found a number of Soviet missile bases on Cuba. In the ensuing crisis, the world went to the brink of nuclear warfare before both sides blinked.
Less well-known to the public, however, was the presence of Soviet bombers at airbases in Cuba. These were not covered in the agreements that ended the Missile Crisis, and remained in Cuba right till the end of the Cold War. Since none of the existing Nike bases in the north were of any use against Russian bombers approaching from Cuba, a new Nike site was needed. By the end of October 1962, the 2nd Missile Battalion had been deployed to southern Florida. Just outside the Homestead entrance to Everglades National Park, they quickly put up a temporary Nike-Hercules battery, then began work on Site HM-69, a permanent missile site located inside the park.
The permanent base was completed in 1965. It consisted of a barracks building and radar dishes located 1.5 miles away from the actual missiles. The missiles were deployed in three "barns". A proportion of the Nikes were nuclear-armed, and because the flight time for a fleet of bombers from Cuba to Miami was so short, there was not enough time for officers at HM-69 to contact the Pentagon for orders. So the battalion officers in Florida were given authority to, if necessary, launch nuclear-armed missiles at their own discretion.
The Nike site remained active until 1979, when it was decommissioned. In 2004, the abandoned site was given to the Everglades National Park, and the National Park Service now runs guided ranger tours of the facility. It is the best-preserved of all the Cold War Nike sites that once ringed much of the US.
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and am traveling around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I have visited.