I used to work outside the gates of NASA back in the mid 80's until the mid 90's. The company I worked for was an approved subcontractor for NASA and we did a lot of surveying work on the Launch Pads when they were reburbished.
We also worked ont he Mars Explorer pad.
Our building would rock when the shuttle went off. We were probably as close as you could get outside the gates.
I also used to live in Cape Canaveral and when the secret night launches deploying sattelites etc... would go off it would shake you out of bed. Everyone would go outside to watch. They would light up the nieghborhood like daytime. Which was interesting when you saw what your neighbors wore to bed in the false daylight.
I miss living in that area, there is a whole energy in the air when launches are going to happen, the whole area gets an excitement in it. Along with a lot of visitors. You would be amazed at the traffic jams and sheer amount of peopl ethat flock in to see a launch.