diff --git a/control_plane/src/compute.rs b/control_plane/src/compute.rs
index 11688167b8..faa600101d 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/compute.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/compute.rs
@@ -420,8 +420,16 @@ impl PostgresNode {
         self.pg_ctl(&["restart"])
     }
 
-    pub fn stop(&self) -> Result<()> {
-        self.pg_ctl(&["-m", "immediate", "stop"])
+    pub fn stop(&self, destroy: bool) -> Result<()> {
+        self.pg_ctl(&["-m", "immediate", "stop"])?;
+        if destroy {
+            println!(
+                "Destroying postgres data directory '{}'",
+                self.pgdata().to_str().unwrap()
+            );
+            fs::remove_dir_all(&self.pgdata())?;
+        }
+        Ok(())
     }
 
     pub fn connstr(&self) -> String {
@@ -453,7 +461,7 @@ impl Drop for PostgresNode {
     // and checking it here. But let just clean datadirs on start.
     fn drop(&mut self) {
         if self.is_test {
-            let _ = self.stop();
+            let _ = self.stop(true);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/zenith/src/main.rs b/zenith/src/main.rs
index 654756b561..68ccb42666 100644
--- a/zenith/src/main.rs
+++ b/zenith/src/main.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,16 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
                 .subcommand(SubCommand::with_name("list"))
                 .subcommand(SubCommand::with_name("create").arg(timeline_arg.clone()))
                 .subcommand(SubCommand::with_name("start").arg(timeline_arg.clone()))
-                .subcommand(SubCommand::with_name("stop").arg(timeline_arg.clone())),
+                .subcommand(
+                    SubCommand::with_name("stop")
+                        .arg(timeline_arg.clone())
+                        .arg(
+                            Arg::with_name("destroy")
+                                .help("Also delete data directory (now optional, should be default in future)")
+                                .long("destroy")
+                                .required(false)
+                        )
+                )
         )
         .subcommand(
             SubCommand::with_name("remote")
@@ -356,12 +365,13 @@ fn handle_pg(pg_match: &ArgMatches, env: &local_env::LocalEnv) -> Result<()> {
         }
         ("stop", Some(sub_m)) => {
             let timeline_name = sub_m.value_of("timeline").unwrap_or("main");
+            let destroy = sub_m.is_present("destroy");
+
             let node = cplane
                 .nodes
                 .get(timeline_name)
                 .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("postgres {} is not found", timeline_name))?;
-            node.stop()?;
-            // TODO: destroy data directory here
+            node.stop(destroy)?;
         }
 
         _ => {}