What if there was a town in America that had no Wi-Fi, cell phones, tablets, cable TV or microwave ovens? Well, there is – and it’s right here in West Virginia.

Green Bank, in Pocahontas County, is home to the the The National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The small town is within the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000 square mile region encompassing portions of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.
WikiMedia/NRAO/AUI
The quiet zone exists so the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope can receive clear communications from space.
In order for the massive dish to work properly with no interference, several forms of modern technology are illegal.
Flickr/Jimmy Emerson, DVM

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As a result, many modern conveniences we take for granted do not exist in Green Bank. The town has no radio, television or cell phone towers. There is no Wi-Fi, which rules out the use of tablets and many other devices. In fact, anything that emits a remote signal is banned, including cordless phones, wireless headphones, and anything else with a remote control function.
Flickr/Jimmy Emerson, DVM
Even microwaves are banned because of the wave interference they emit while in operation. Cable TV and Dish Networks are also out. Internet is available, but only through dial-up or an Ethernet cable. The town even has a surveillance truck that patrols the streets looking for the emission of illegal signals, serving a kind of anti-tech law enforcement function.
Flickr/Stephen Little
So you are probably asking yourself why the title of this article suggests that you should visit this tech-free zone. The answer is simple: Green Bank Observatory.
Flickr/edgeward
Not only is the Green Bank Science Center filled with cool things to do and see, the telescope itself is an incredible piece of technology. The telescope is the largest fully steerable telescope in the world. It stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, and a college football field could easily fit inside its dish. The massively powerful dish itself can receive the tiniest signals you can imagine from a staggering 13 billion miles away.

To learn more about Green Bank and its telescope, check out this video from YouTube.

Could you live in a town like Green Bank? Feel free to leave a comment below and join the discussion.

To learn more about West Virginia, check out these 11 strange spots to visit in the Mountain State.

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