Interest in Trinity Site was immediate. In September 1945 press tours
to the site started. One of the famous photos of ground zero shows
Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves surrounded by a small
group of reporters as they examine one of the footings to the 100 foot
tower on which the bomb was placed. That picture was taken Sept. 11.
The exposed footing is still visible at ground zero. On Sept. 15-17,
George Cremeens, a young radio reporter from KRNT in Des Moines,
visited the site with soundman Frank Lagouri. They flew over the
crater and interviewed Dr. Kenneth Bainbridge, Trinity test director,
and Capt. Howard Bush, base camp commander.

Back in Iowa, Cremeens created four 15-minute reports on his visit
which aired Sept. 24, 26, 27 and 29. A 15-minute composite was made
and aired on the ABC Radio Network. For his work Cremeens received a
local Peabody Award for "Outstanding Reporting and Interpretation of
the News."

At first Trinity Site was encircled with a fence and radiation warning
signs were posted. The site remained off-limits to military and
civilian personnel of the proving ground and closed to the public.

In 1952 the Atomic Energy Commission let a contract to clean up the
site. Much of the Trinitite was scraped up and buried. In September
1953 about 650 people attended the first Trinity Site open house. A
few years later a small group from Tularosa visited the site on an
anniversary of the explosion to conduct a religious service and
prayers for peace. Similar visits have been made annually in recent
years on the first Saturday in October.

In 1967 the inner oblong fence was added. In 1972 the corridor barbed