AFORR encourages efforts to preserve and allow public access to the historic assets of the ORR.
Historic assets include pre-Columbian sites along the Clinch River, historic remnants of the farming communities that existed prior to the Manhattan Project, and many of the original Manhattan Project facilities constructed during the 1940's.
Prior to the Manhattan Project, the area that became the ORR was a typical rural east Tennessee farming community. There were three villages present, Wheat, Scarboro, and Robertsville. Houses ranged from large, comfortable farm houses to cabins and shacks. There were numerous cemeteries, chruches and several stores and schools.
When the ORR was created in 1942, government activities were entirely focused on the war-time missions. Efforts to preserve pre-war structures were minimal and dependent on potential contribution to the war effort.
Only two of the original churches remain. The remnants of Pre-World War II home sites and farm structures can still be located. DOE maintains the old cemeteries, and two of the pre-WWII churches have been preserved.
AFORR supports efforts to maximize the scope of preservation efforts within the mandate of the recently established Manhattan Project National Historic Park.