Original subtitles

[narrator] The research facility of a troubled genius,

who built super weapons for America's enemies.

He was part villain, part hero. Tried to copy Nazi technology.

A forgotten coastal haven that changed the nation.

[contributor] Once we left these shores and this sand,

we felt the fear of the Klan.

[narrator] And a downtown complex that stood firm

on San Francisco's darkest day.

If this building had gone down, it would have taken the entire

national economy with it.

[narrator] In Vermont, technology from the Third Reich

was used to create a weapon of mass destruction.

[Mike] It's truly amazing stuff that was happening here.

I believe that they were probably far more advanced

than anybody really knows.

[Hadley] We are in the northernmost point of Vermont,

basically right on the Canadian border.

[Dr. Auerbach] In the middle of this wilderness,

there's this multi-story structure.

It's totally out of place here.

[Dr. Kwami] This building looks modern, but it's just a shell

of what it once was.

[Martin] On the roof there's this tripod.

That suggests the possibility of mounting some sort

of a powerful optic.

Were they spying on someone or something?

[narrator] In a time when nuclear missiles threatened world annihilation,

this place offered America an alternative.

[Mike] I believe that the super gun was designed

in this very building.

[narrator] Having grown up in this remote corner of America,

Mike Rogers is visiting a building that cast a shadow

over his childhood.

[Mike] It was CIA secret. Everybody was scared of it.

Almost like an Area 51.

[narrator] Today, many of this place's secrets are still classified.

But, we do know that its origins lie in the early '60s,

with the clandestine Project HARP.

HARP was a high-altitude research program, and this site

spread over 2,000 acres.

[narrator] The crux of Project HARP was to develop a new method

of launching satellites into space.

To avoid using expensive rockets, the aim was to fire

them out of this world using a giant gun.

The American government and the Canadian government

went in together to fund the development

of this technology.

[Dr. Auerbach] In theory, this is a much more fuel efficient, and thus

cost efficient way of launching satellites.

[narrator] As a joint venture, this remote facility crossed

the international border between the two countries.

[Mike] They had their border patrol, they had their own immigration.

They claim that there is a tunnel that is linked,

but I'm not sure if that's just rumor.

[narrator] While the designs for Project HARP began here,

the testing happened elsewhere.

Where these guns would fire was decided by the Canadian genius

behind the project, Gerald Bull.

Gerald Bull's big idea was to move the whole project

to the island of Barbados.

[narrator] Because the Earth spins fastest at the equator, Bull believed

Barbados would give the shells fired from his guns,

the extra velocity required to enter space.

So, the first supergun test was launched in 1963 in Barbados.

[man] Three... two...one...mark.

[boom]

[narrator] Over a four-year period, Bull successfully fired

test shells to altitudes of nearly 60 miles,

just two miles from the official edge of space.

These tests collected vital data in the hope that one day,

a gun could launch satellites into orbit.

To this day, the data collected from this project makes up

about half of what we know about the upper atmosphere.

[narrator] Yet in 1967, this building's future was thrown into jeopardy.

With the American rocket program successfully launching

satellites into space, some in Washington felt HARP

was taking too long.

And the Canadians, who saw the project

as a cost-effective opportunity to join the space age,

had even bigger concerns.

The Canadians are getting increasingly worried

about the Americans' intentions.

They start to worry that a nuclear payload could be launched.

[Dr. Auerbach] All this culminated in the funding for HARP being pulled.

The project was over.

[narrator] With both the American and Canadian governments

pulled out, Bull left the Caribbean and returned to Vermont,

determined to continue his research

on satellite-launching superguns.

He christened this place the Space Research Corporation,

and planned to win secure deals, by leaning on the contacts

he had made in Washington.

[Martin] As a part of the contract that Bull had,

he could hold on to the development laboratory,

but only if he could fund it.

And back then, the only thing that was going to produce

any revenue was making guns.

[Mike] Gerald Bull started selling artillery.

The artillery made here was way ahead of everybody.

[narrator] With the help of Washington, the Space Research Corporation

sold artillery to America, and its allies.

But Congress had an issue with Bull's Canadian citizenship,

because some contracts involved sharing national secrets.

[Mike] They needed him to have a security clearance.

They had to grant him U.S. citizenship.

Gerald Bull got his citizenship through an act of Congress.

[Dr. Auerbach] Gerald Bull was only the third person in history

to have that honor bestowed upon him,

along with Marquis de Lafayette, and Winston Churchill.

[narrator] Yet Bull found his American passport came

with some strings attached.

And he, and the work done at this building, were about to get

involved in the murky world of international weapons trading.

[Hadley] It's said that CIA agents came here, and told Gerald Bull

that he could sell arms to South Africa,

to aid the fight against communism.

[narrator] In the 1970s, South Africa was ruled

by the racist Apartheid regime, and had been placed under an arms embargo

by the United Nations.

It was an embargo that President Jimmy Carter supported.

[Hadley] There's no records of these meetings with the CIA.

We only know about it, because Gerald Bull said they happened.

However, Bull's actions afterward do indicate

he thought he had the permission of the government.

Because, when he sold arms to South Africa, he did so like

he had nothing to hide.

That's when he got caught by the UN,

and they arrested him, and he was charged.

He spent six months in prison.

[narrator] Soon after his release in December, 1980,

Bull moved to Brussels, cutting ties with America.

Without its champion, this building was abandoned,

but the story it played a pivotal role in didn't end here.

After prison, Bull is more infatuated than ever

with the development of a supergun.

[narrator] But the once naive young genius, who had dreamed

of using the supergun for peaceful projects here

in Vermont, was gone.

No longer was he talking about firing satellites into space.

Gerald Bull knew that if he wanted to sell

his supergun, he had to pitch it as military hardware.

He started to talk about a mega weapon,

the likes of which the world had never seen before.

[narrator] Gerald Bull had just been released from prison

for selling artillery designed here to embargoed South Africa.

Yet, this didn't stop him from wanting

to continue with his life's work,

as the now twisted genius dreamed of a gun

so large that its size brought a new set of problems.

Problems that had been solved before by Nazi Germany,

with their V3 cannon.

The V3 supergun was going to be a weapon with a barrel

over 400 feet long, capable of hurling a projectile

at ranges of greater than 100 miles.

[Hadley] Somehow, Gerald Bull was able to find some Nazi documents

that gave insight into how the V3 was able to achieve

such long ranges.

[Dr. Kwami] The key to the Nazi V3 cannon, was that it had a barrel

that was made in sections,

and then tightly fastened together to make

an airtight chamber for firing.

[narrator] With this Nazi technology added to his designs,

Bull had invented a weapon of mass destruction.

And in 1988, he found a willing buyer,

in a country America would be at war with just two years later.

In the late 1980s, Iraq was under the control of a dictator,

named Saddam Hussein.

Saddam was looking for a way to quickly subdue,

and control nearby countries.

And something like Bull's supergun would be perfect.

[narrator] Bull started constructing the largest gun ever built.

Code-named Big Babylon, its barrel would have a length

of over 500 feet and a caliber over three feet wide.

[Mike] That gun that he was building in Iraq, it was huge.

They said they can shoot a payload, something like

a thousand miles.

I mean, that's...crazy.

[narrator] But Big Babylon was never completed.

[Dr. Auerbach] On March 22, 1990, Gerald Bull was assassinated.

He was shot five times as he walked

into his Brussels apartment.

[narrator] To this day, no one has ever admitted

to killing Gerald Bull.

[Dr. Auerbach] The prime suspect was Israel,

who were rightly very concerned about what might happen,

if Bull completed his Iraqi superguns.

[Mike] It could have been Iraq, it could have been Iran,

and it could have been the CIA.

He was stepping on a lot of political feet.

[narrator] None of Bull's supergun projects were ever completed.

And like this structure here in Vermont,

the idea was abandoned.

Today, over three decades later, Mike owns this building,

having bought it in 2003.

I bought this building, because I like the history behind it.

I kind of like owning it.

[narrator] Mike is still deciding what to do to keep its story alive.

And maybe, in time, more light will be shone

on its murky past.

[Martin] God only knows what was going on in that building,

and who knows who else he had deals with.

Even to this day, people that were in Gerald Bull's

inner circle refuse to talk about it.

[narrator] In San Francisco, one overlooked building held

firm during the city's darkest days.

[Katherine] It's quiet. It's cool.

It almost has kind of a speakeasy quality.

It's an incredible survivor.

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] Just blocks away from San Francisco's

most famous thoroughfare, Market Street,

is this beautiful, imposing building.

[Rob] Although it doesn't look abandoned from the outside,

there appear to be some areas of damage to the building

that haven't been repaired.

[narrator] Yet, within these thick walls, the story is totally different.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] In the basement, there are these long corridors

with rooms coming off of them.

Could it be a jail? Could it be a courthouse?

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] There seems to be a lot of round indentations --

who, or what, was stored here?

[narrator] Once, this building held a huge part of the nation's wealth.

If this building had gone down, it would have taken

the national economy with it.

[narrator] Architectural historian, Katherine Petrin,

grew up near this building, and has been studying

it for the last quarter century.

The building was, at that time, nothing like it is today.

It was full of people.

It was vibrating from the machinery.

There were smells.

It was toxic, and it was a very intense workplace.

San Francisco was a city built on the gold rush,

and this building was to be the center of that.

The discovery of gold in 1849 brought people to California

from all over the world.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] Early San Francisco was filled with wooden structures,

but this building stood out.

It was clear that something important was happening here.

[narrator] Alfred B. Mullitt was chosen to lead this project

by the federal government, because he had overseen

a number of monumental building projects across the nation.

He would design something unlike the city had ever seen before.

Because of the huge amounts of gold and silver flowing

through it, this was designed to be the most secure building

in the West.

[narrator] Completed in 1874, this is the old San Francisco mint.

Gold and silver bullion would be turned into hard currency here,

which would then be stored in vaults, before being

distributed across America.

[Katherine] This room was full to the ceiling of bags of coins.

There were so many of them that they pushed up against this lining,

and created an impression of a coin.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] By 1880, this place was producing 60%

of the nation's gold and silver coins.

And at one point, these vaults held one third

of the nation's gold reserves.

[narrator] During the 19th century, the entire economy

of the United States was based on this vulnerable national gold stockpile,

making this one of the most important buildings in the nation.

[Katherine] So it's designed not to be able to be tunneled under.

The granite foundations are vast.

[narrator] In 1906, this building would come under attack.

But it didn't come from members of San Francisco's criminal underworld.

It came from Mother Nature.

[narrator] The old San Francisco Mint was built to protect

a large percentage of America's gold reserves.

And on Wednesday, April 18, 1906,

these sturdy walls would be put to the ultimate test.

A huge earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9

hit the city, shaking the mint for 45 seconds.

[Rob] The city was almost completely destroyed

in less than one minute.

No wooden building would have been left unscathed.

[narrator] But the Mint was unlike any other building

in San Francisco.

[Katherine] The architect, Alfred B. Mullitt, his idea was

to create a very heavy building that would sit on the sandy soil,

and in the event of an earthquake,

would move as one piece.

And in fact, that's exactly what has happened.

[narrator] Mullitt's foresight and attention to detail had

seen the Mint through one of the largest earthquakes

to ever hit America.

But the threat was far from over.

[Rob] The thing about the 1906 earthquake was

that it was a double disaster.

The city was devastated, not just by the shake,

but also by the immediate fire that followed.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] Over 30 different fires started around the city,

and the Mint was in peril.

[narrator] As the sky turned black from the fire, chaos reigned,

and soldiers were called in to protect the Mint

from potential looters.

[Rob] But the true battle the soldiers faced,

alongside the Mint's employees, was against the scorching fire

bearing down on them.

[Katherine] The fires were coming from two directions, and they ended

up converging on this building, a really intense firestorm.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] The glass windows began to melt from the heat,

and the stone began to pop.

Someone later wrote that it sounded like gunfire

was exploding in the walls.

[narrator] But the firefighters had a secret weapon.

Because of the risk of fire from the machinery at the Mint,

it had been built over an artesian well,

and this water was used to combat the flames.

Flying embers sparked many small fires on the roof

and in the courtyard, but the Mint's protectors kept battling.

Fires continued for another three days, but when the smoke cleared,

one of the last remaining buildings,

was the San Francisco Mint.

[narrator] The Mint still bears the scars of this battle today.

Across the city, around 3,000 people were left dead,

and many more homeless.

But the wealth of the nation was secure.

Approximately $300 million worth of gold and silver was saved.

That's over $10 billion in today's money.

[narrator] In the decades that followed, the San Francisco Mint would

stay central to this city as it rebuilt.

However, the machinery here was spread across many rooms

on four floors, and modern minting processes required a larger,

more streamlined facility.

[Katherine] The federal government commissioned a new Mint

in San Francisco, just off Market Street.

That was completed in 1937, leaving this building really

without a primary function.

[narrator] Today, in modern San Francisco, the old Mint building has

a number of new functions.

Like a lot of these grand buildings in urban America,

it is being repurposed.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] It is used as a museum, an event space,

and for guided tours.

[narrator] Yet, with the threat of seismic activity still hanging

over California, this solid, old building represents hope

as a symbol of humanity's victory over nature.

[Katherine] We know "the big one" is coming.

To tell you the truth, if there's any building

that I could choose to be in in San Francisco, it's this one.

[narrator] In America's smallest state, a set of buildings had the last

word when war was brought to the nation's shore.

[Chris] There's so many mysteries. Why were they here?

Why did they attack?

And when death seemed inevitable,

why did they not retreat?

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] This is Point Judith, a tiny town at the south

of Narragansett Bay.

Its beautiful coastal appearance helps to give

Rhode Island its nickname, the Ocean State.

[narrator] Famed for mobsters and lobsters, this part

of Rhode Island's idyllic coastline has a set

of abandoned buildings that hint

at an alternative past.

It's a real hodgepodge of different types of structures.

Whatever this was, it was sprawling.

Some of these buildings are part of their own derelict complex,

whereas others are in the middle of what looks

like a campsite.

There's more than what first meets the eye

to these buildings.

Some extend into a massive network of underground concrete tunnels.

[narrator] During some of the world's most precarious days,

these buildings protected the nation.

Folks knew that war was coming and they wanted to be prepared.

This was basically America's front line of home defense.

[narrator] But all this concrete and steel could not prevent a tragedy

that took American lives.

When the soldiers stationed here saw that torpedo hit

the ship, they knew they had to help.

[narrator] Chris Zeeman is exploring a set of structures that have

intrigued him since he was a boy.

I first came to this place when I was 12 and we stayed

at the campground with my cousins.

I was surprised to find these concrete structures

here in New England.

[narrator] Constructed in 1940, these were built to defend

against a threat that many didn't know existed.

In 1940, the world was a scary place.

The Nazi German blitzkrieg had taken over

huge portions of Europe.

Hitler controlled everywhere from France to Poland,

and his eyes were firmly fixed on invading Russia,

and Britain next.

There's a common misconception that if Britain had fallen,

somehow, the Atlantic Ocean would have been a barrier

against a German invasion of the United States.

Well, Hitler wasn't going to let a mere ocean

stop his plans.

We know this, because he wrote about it.

We all know Adolf Hitler's first political manifesto

in the form of "Mein Kampf," but he wrote a second book.

And the crux of the second book was his blueprint

for invading America.

[narrator] With spies spread across Europe, this ambition was

well-known by Washington.

And these buildings are America's response.

This is Fort Greene.

Fort Greene gave the United States exactly what we needed,

troops in uniforms with big guns on the beach.

[Chris] When this was originally constructed, this was

a state-of-the-art facility.

These defenses cost $1.7 million.

Fort Greene had two gun batteries like this.

The range of these guns was about 25 miles.

And also, there were about a dozen observation stations

spread all the way from New Bedford to Long Island.

[narrator] Fort Greene protected the entrance

to Long Island Sound, one of the bodies of water connecting

the Atlantic Ocean to Manhattan.

And Congress took extra precautions to ensure the Nazis

didn't know this back door was shut.

[Chris] Fort Greene was designed to look like a coastal village.

The concrete structures were disguised with wood frame,

and there were also cottage-style buildings

here to support the troops.

[narrator] The U.S. government made a smart decision in having Fort Greene

blend in, because it turned out Hitler's plans

to invade America were already well underway.

As elusive Nazi submarines already stalked the East Coast,

another project threatened American lives inland.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] In early 1942, Germany began to manufacture

prototype aircraft for a project known as the America Bomber.

This was a multi-engine, long-range bomber that it was

hoped would have the range to reach targets in New York.

[narrator] While Allied bombers, like the B-24, had a range

of around 1,600 miles, the 6,000-plus mile round trip

from Europe to New York would require

groundbreaking technology that many thought impossible.

Yet one way to reduce the aircraft's weight,

and increase its range would have been for it to carry

something lighter than bombs.

Even if the America bomber never dropped a single bomb

on the United States, they still could have done

a great deal of damage if they had just simply distributed leaflets.

Imagine the streets of DC, Philadelphia, Boston, New York,

blanketed with propaganda leaflets that read something like,

"This was dropped by a German bomber."

That would have the effect

of terrifying the civilian population.

And there is nothing more dangerous

than a terrified civilian population.

[narrator] Fortunately, we'll never know what effect

this could have had on America.

The America bomber project never got

out of the prototype stage.

[narrator] But this didn't prevent bloodshed

from being brought to Fort Greene's door.

Everyone thought the Battle of the Atlantic was over,

but they were wrong.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] In the closing days of World War II,

one of the most bizarre events to happen in the entire conflict,

happened in the waters here.

In May 1945, Hitler had been killed,

and Admiral Donitz had taken charge.

Negotiations had started with the Allies,

and the war was coming to an end.

[narrator] Nazi Germany had ordered all troops

to return home to surrender,

including their fleet of U-boats.

When the command was given, one of these German submarines,

U-853, was lurking in the waters here next to Fort Greene.

For some inexplicable reason,

U-853 did not obey the order to return to base.

Why the commander of U-853 disobeyed

a direct order is still unknown.

Maybe his radio was broken.

[Martin] There's also the possibility that they received that message,

and then chose to ignore it, because they might be more

interested in one last suicidal attack against Allied shipping,

than going home and facing

a post-war Germany that has to rebuild itself.

[narrator] Whatever the truth, the submarine's next action

ended in tragedy.

On the 5th of May, the day after it was ordered

to surrender itself, it went on the attack.

U-853 is stalking just south of Fort Greene, and into that

stumbles Black Point.

[Dr. Auerbach] The Black Point was a merchant ship filled with coal,

and was an easy target.

And when U-853 launched the torpedo, there was only one possible outcome.

[explosion booms]

[waves lapping]

[narrator] 12 American men died on the Black Point just off

the coast here.

And while the rest of the merchant ship's crew

were fighting for survival, U-853 made a second

peculiar decision, giving Fort Greene enough time to retaliate.

[Dr. Davis-Hayes] U-boat protocol was to descend to a depth,

after attacking a vessel.

The idea being that then the submarine would be

undetectable to enemy ships.

[narrator] Yet U-853 hung around in these shallow waters

around 100 feet deep.

So Fort Greene turned the hunter into the hunted.

[narrator] Fort Greene, Rhode Island, had been constructed to protect

the United States against a Nazi attack.

And in May 1945, after Germany had officially surrendered,

it was called into action after an American merchant ship was

sunk by a German U-boat, U-853, in the waters here.

The observers here at Fort Greene reported the sinking

then coordinated the response to the attack.

Fort Greene has called in an Armageddon.

The ships that come in and begin dropping

depth charges, and one of those depth charges ultimately

ruptures the hull of U-853.

[narrator] When the crew's personal items began rising to the surface,

it was clear the U-853 had sunk with no survivors.

This was America's final engagement in the war

in the Atlantic.

The actions by the commander of the U-boat on that day caused

a waste of lives on both sides.

[narrator] While the reasons behind the actions

of the U-boat's commander remain a mystery,

the end of Fort Greene's story is firmly written in America's history books.

With the advent of the nuclear age,

Fort Greene had become irrelevant.

In 1947, the guns were cut up for scrap,

and the buildings were abandoned.

[narrator] Today, nearly 80 years later,

Fort Greene stands as a reminder

of the last time the United States was directly threatened

with invasion from another nation.

I hope that the remains will inspire people to become

interested in history like I did.

These buildings are important as a memorial to the generation

that defeated Nazi Germany.

[narrator] In Northeast Florida stands a forgotten beachfront community

that was once a beacon of hope during a national crisis.

The Atlantic coast of Florida is stunning.

Palm trees, nice breezes, white sands.

[Linda] Today, locals spend their time at the beach and then

they drive home at sunset.

But half a century ago, there used to be a venue here

that would keep people here long into the night.

[Will] A midnight jam session would occur right here,

and all the latest artists during that time period would

come spend the night here.

[narrator] But this beach was much more than just

a place to see famous musicians.

[Dr. Mitchell] When you compare what was going on at this coastal resort

to others nearby, you realize that this place was a utopia.

[narrator] Up and down this coast, people were being violently

denied access to the shoreline.

[Carol] To some people, the activism came in,

because we knew God's ocean can be ours, too.

[narrator] Carol Alexander, who now runs a local museum,

remembers growing up in an era where going to the beach

was radically different.

I grew up in Philadelphia, and we had a segregated beach

in Atlantic City called Chicken Bone Beach.

[Linda] African Americans were banned on certain beaches.

The few that were for African-Americans, were often

difficult to access, had few facilities and resources.

[narrator] But Carol also remembers hearing about a unique

African-American-owned beach community in North Florida.

That almost felt as though it was just a myth or folklore,

it wasn't real, but it was real.

[narrator] This is American Beach, a dream made possible thanks

to one extraordinary man.

A.L. Lewis said, "Why can't we have our own, because we are as

American as anyone else?"

[Prof. Zarsadiaz] Abraham Lincoln Lewis was born at the end of the Civil War.

And in many ways, he embodied the possibilities

that were now available to African-Americans,

and Black Americans at this time.

His natural business acumen, and love of reading from

an early age led him to start Florida's first Black insurance company.

And this eventually made him the state's first Black millionaire.

[narrator] In 1935, A.L. Lewis used his vast wealth to buy

200 acres of beachfront land on Amelia Island,

just north of Jacksonville.

A.L. Lewis wanted to create a beach community that was

unlike anywhere else in the state.

Somewhere African-Americans could come for quote,

"Recreation and relaxation without humiliation."

[narrator] Lewis built his own house here,

and many other African-American families followed.

And there was one business here that put American Beach

on the map, Evans Rendezvous.

The origin of the word rendezvous comes from

"a gathering place," which is French.

And this was an ideal place that everyone,

regardless of color, was able to come and gather, and have a good time.

[narrator] Will Evans began working here in 1970 with his father,

who owned and ran the business.

So when I was six years old, my father would actually have

me working behind the bar.

I was taught to count money at a very early age.

So I had me a little cushion, but I could sit there in

the chair and be able to reach the cash register.

[narrator] Opened since 1948, Evans Rendezvous had built up a reputation

as the ultimate place to unwind and relax.

We created kind of a culture because as you walked through

that door, you were listening to some R&B music.

You were smelling this fresh seafood, and just vibe

as you order your favorite drink.

[narrator] For many patrons of Evans Rendezvous,

the most memorable nights took place in a separate part of the building.

Evans Rendezvous was not only a bar and restaurant,

it was an entertainment center.

And this is where the magic happened.

[Linda] This club welcomed some of the biggest artists of the day,

Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong.

It was an incredible list of legends.

[Will] Everybody wanted to be part of the jam session

when they came here, and man, they would go

until two and three o'clock in the morning.

[narrator] But it wasn't all fun and games.

At a whites-only beach, just down the coast,

a series of protests was about to change America forever.

[narrator] In American Beach, a small community on

the Atlantic coast of Florida, a nightclub called

Evans Rendezvous attracted the biggest stars of the day.

But when James Brown turned up to perform, disaster almost struck.

This was packed, it was packed out there,

and the sheriff department wanted to close the place down,

because it was over the limit for the fire department.

So my dad told me that a riot almost started,

but James calmed the folks down.

He said, "No, we're not gonna perform."

And he used the excuse that he was too tired.

[narrator] James Brown performed at other venues in the area

and used his music to break down the boundaries of racial segregation.

But outside of American Beach, African-Americans faced

daily struggles with racism and inequality.

So even though we had this oasis here, it did not

substitute the hurricanes in our life,

the oppression in our life.

[narrator] In the summer of 1964, less than 50 miles down

the coast from American Beach, in the city of St. Augustine,

protests against segregated beaches turned into ugly,

and violent scenes.

When we think of the especially iconic moments

in U.S. civil rights history, we don't think

of the crystal-blue waters, and white sand of Florida's beaches.

But this coastline became a civil rights battleground at the time.

[Carol] C.T. Vivian, Shuttlesworth, Martin Luther King,

they all came to St. Augustine.

[narrator] The protests involved wading into the water,

and standing in a show of defiance.

But despite these peaceful actions, protesters were

attacked by mobs of angry white segregationists.

Swimming pools in St. Augustine were also violently contested.

One of the most horrific stories of the time was when

a white motel manager became so enraged over white and Black

integration in his swimming pool, that he poured acid into it.

Photos of the injustices in St. Augustine spread across

the world, and it put the oppressive Jim Crow regime on full show.

[narrator] The day after the motel swimming pool incident,

the landmark Civil Rights bill was passed by the Senate,

following months of debate and filibuster.

When you look at the timing of the Civil Rights Act passing,

and these troubles in St. Augustine,

you get a sense of just how influential these protests

in Florida actually were.

[narrator] The 1964 Civil Rights Act made the segregation

of public beaches across the country illegal,

ending American Beach's unique appeal.

But despite the area's decline in popularity,

Evans Rendezvous survived and thrived.

After the Civil Rights Movement, while Black Americans,

in theory, could go to any beach, any nightclub,

there wasn't any other place like Evans Rendezvous.

[Linda] The jazz greats of the 1950s and '60s were replaced

by up-and-coming disco queens like Sister Sledge.

[narrator] In 1980, Will Evans' father sold Evans Rendezvous.

It finally closed for good in the late '90s,

ending almost half a century as the beloved anchor

of the American Beach community.

In 2004, Evans Rendezvous was acquired by Nassau County

to preserve this historic nightclub, a popular move among many locals.

There've been a number of people in there come by

and say, "You know what, I remember this place.

I had such a good time."

Evans Rendezvous, it was a cultural phenomenon,

and I didn't know that as a kid, but I know it now.

[narrator] American Beach is now on the National Register of Historic Places,

and is a civil rights landmark.

But unlike so many of these landmarks, both around

the nation and nearby in Florida, American Beach wasn't

consecrated by blood and terror.

It was consecrated by happiness.

American Beach is a very spiritual place, a place that

gives peacefulness and joy.