17-02-2025
The real locations behind West Virginia's appearance in ‘Captain America: Brave New World'
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — Although reviews are mixed on the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, West Virginians might have been surprised to see their home state make an appearance in 'Captain America: Brave New World.'
This article contains minor spoilers about the driving plot of 'Captain America: Brave New World,' but will not spoil any of the movie's big reveals.
'Captain America: Brave New World,' focuses on Sam Wilson, the newly-minted Captain America, and his friend Joaquin Torres, who recently stepped in to fill the now-vacant role of the Falcon. Following an assassination attempt on the newly-elected President Thaddeus Ross, Wilson and Torres begin searching for the person behind the plot to kill the president.
Eventually, their search leads them to a location known as 'Camp Echo One,' which Wilson points out is situated in a secluded location in West Virginia. As Captain America and the Falcon approach the facility, the camera pans to a sign on the side of the road that says the two are entering a radio quiet zone, exactly like West Virginia's real-life National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ).
Two large radio telescopes are prominent features of Camp Echo One, and Wilson comments on this during the movie, saying the radio telescopes must be a front for something more secretive. The two telescopes bear a striking resemblance to the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope at the U.S. National Science Foundation's Green Bank Observatory (GBO) and are no doubt a nod to the world's largest steerable radio telescope.
How does Green Bank get snow off its telescope?
However, there is another government facility in the NRQZ that could be a better comparison to the secretive Camp Echo One installation—the Sugar Grove Research Station in Pendleton County.
Sugar Grove Research Station, previously known as Sugar Grove U.S. Naval Radio Station or the Navy Information Operations Command Sugar Grove, was a communications research and development base for the U.S. Navy and other government agencies, according to the West Virginia Encyclopedia.
Because of this, very little public information exists online about the Sugar Grove station except that the Navy ceased operations at the site in 2015, though the National Security Agency (NSA) still operates part of the facility.
According to the WV Encyclopedia, the nature of the facility was revealed as part of Edward Snowden's controversial leaking of government documents in 2013, which revealed a large-scale surveillance program targeting U.S. citizens was being carried out by the U.S. government; for years, the site was allegedly being used to monitor satellite communications and cell phone traffic.
Today, the Sugar Grove campus appears to still be for sale by the Sugar Grove LLC. According to the property website, the Sugar Grove Station campus features housing for up to 400 residents, sports fields and courts, a swimming pool, a water treatment facility, a water tower, surveillance equipment like CCTV cameras and security checkpoints, administration buildings, a police and fire station, a youth activity center and even a bowling alley.
A map of the facility and labels of each building are available on the property website, along with interior pictures of many of the site's buildings.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
