Enlarge By Eric Hylden, Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, via AP Dave Morken says a buyer could turn this former missile site into a lodge or bed-and-breakfast. Merle Paaverud was raised on a farm near a nuclear missile site outside Finley, N.D. He remembers how missile sites in the area were "shrouded in mystery." "Here we were farming around them, raising kids and going to school, and we were sitting in one of the most powerful areas in the world as far as nuclear weapons," Paaverud, 59, says. "We never really knew what was going on, but it was life and death, part of the chess game that was going on in the world." Today, Paaverud is the director of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Next summer, he will oversee the opening to the public of the former Oscar Zero missile silo and launch facility near Cooperstown, N.D. The museum, set to open next July, is one of several new uses being found for missile sites, ranging from homes and businesses to recreation and tourist attractions. There is increasing interest in these sites, as Americans who came of age during the Cold War want to learn more about the history of the era, Paaverud and others say. "A lot of the people who grew up and lived through it are coming back and sort of re-experiencing that time," says Chris Wilkinson, an interpretive park ranger at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in western South Dakota. Since January, 21,000 visitors have toured the Minuteman site near Philip, S.D., which is operated by the National Park Service, Wilkinson says. The Cold War, he says, had "a defining and pervasive influence" not only on Americans but on people throughout the world. The South Dakota site includes artwork that missile crewmembers drew on walls to pass the time. One painting, made to look like a pizza company's logo, is a reminder that Minuteman missiles travel more than 15,000 mph and could reach Russia in a half-hour. "Worldwide delivery in 30 minutes or less or your next one is free," someone wrote beneath the artwork, recalls retired Air Force captain David Blackhurst of Black Hawk, S.D. Blackhurst, 67, was a crew commander in the mid-1970s at a Minuteman site near White Owl, S.D. When an alarm sounded, he says, "we never knew whether something was for real, or whether it wasn't." Many of the sites are in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and other central and western states, says Edward Peden, who operates a Kansas real estate business selling former missile sites. An area near Plattsburgh, N.Y., was home to the only Intercontinental Ballistic Missile sites east of the Mississippi River, Peden says. The 12 Atlas F sites near Plattsburgh were decommissioned in 1965, he says. Peden says there are more than 100 sites across the U.S. that housed the first generation of missiles, which included the Atlas series. These sites were decommissioned in the mid-1960s, Peden says, and the Air Force upgraded to missiles including the Minuteman. Today, there are about 450 Minuteman missiles operational in central and western states, Wilkinson says. Peden lives underground in an Atlas E complex outside Topeka, where he operates his missile-base real estate agency. He and his wife have closed 48 sales, he says, and buyers have used the sites for homes, offices and as investment properties. "These are some of the strongest structures ever built on the planet," Peden says. "They are historic sites much like the castles of Europe and forts that exist around the country." Elsewhere: • The National UFO Reporting Center plans to move from the Seattle area to a former missile base between Davenport and Harrington in eastern Washington state. Director Peter Davenport says he bought the site in 2006 and is cleaning it up. •Near Abilene, Texas, divers can explore a water-filled silo known as Valhalla during tours given by Family Scuba Center. The 130-foot-deep water seeped in through 4-foot-thick concrete walls over several years, the company's website says. • About 60 miles west of Grand Forks, N.D., David Morken is trying to sell property once used as the India-Zero missile complex. It is listed at $40,000. Morken, a 52-year-old farmer, says he hopes it might offer opportunities as a hunting lodge or bed-and-breakfast. • Bruce Townsley's home near Abilene is a former Atlas F site. The former social worker says he paid $99,000 for it in 1997. "It seemed like a cool idea — nothing more complicated than that," Townsley says. Martin reports for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more