Shenandoah Caverns | |
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Location | near Mount Jackson, Virginia, U.S. |
Coordinates | 38°42′56″N78°40′9.40″W / 38.71556°N 78.6692778°W |
Website | shenandoahcaverns |
Shenandoah Caverns is a commercial show cave located near Mount Jackson, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley and it is the only cavern in Virginia that has elevator access.
The Shenandoah Caverns has a mile-long guided tour, and its temperature naturally remains at 54 degrees year-round. Seventeen "rooms" of connecting chambers are traveled through during this time. Geological formations have been named: the Diamond Cascade, the Grotto of the Gods, the Rainbow Lake, the Oriental Tea Garden, and the Capitol Dome, and these are lighted for display. The "bacon" formations were featured in a 1964 issue of National Geographic Magazine. [1]
Shenandoah Caverns was discovered in 1884 during the construction of the Southern Railway through the Shenandoah Valley. Many local farmers, including Abraham Neff, donated stone of their own property for the construction of the railway. The Neff family allowed the railroad to quarry rock on their property, near where the railroad was built. Neff's two sons were playing in quarry when they discovered cold air rising from a hole in the ground. Their curiosity was piqued, so the boys retrieved ropes and candles and scrambled down the 275-foot twisting and winding shaft to make their way into the caverns. [2]
The railway was instrumental to the opening of Shenandoah Caverns. A local businessman in Woodstock, Hunter Chapman, was a stockholder in the B&O railroad. When he heard about the railroad going through, and the discovery of the caverns, he saw an opportunity to open an attraction on the railway. He approached Abraham Neff and asked him to sell his property, which he did so in 1922. Chapman opened Shenandoah Caverns, with a full-service hotel on the second and third floors. The passenger train ran until after WWII. [2]
The caverns were sold to H. B. Long in 1954. In 1957, during a remodeling project, the caverns' lodge caught fire and destroyed the top two floors.
In 1966 Earl C. Hargrove, Jr., owner of Hargrove, Inc. in Lanham, Maryland, purchased Shenandoah Caverns. Mr. Hargrove's company was responsible for the creation of parade floats and props for every Inaugural since Truman's in 1949, as well as Miss America Pageants, Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parades, and many other national celebrations. To display retired parade floats, American Celebration on Parade was opened in 2000 on the Shenandoah Caverns property.
In the 1990s, the second floor of the caverns' lodge was renovated, and Main Street of Yesteryear opened in 1996.
In 2007, Hargrove opened the Yellow Barn to showcase his antique carriages and farm equipment, as well as to be a wedding and special events venue.
The Shenandoah Valley is underlying with limestone and also has karst topography, forming caves throughout the region. Rainwater becomes slightly acidic as it seeps through the soil. The acid slowly erodes the calcium carbonate, the main component of limestone, creating caves, sinkholes and springs throughout the landscape. There are many caves and caverns throughout the surrounding area. [3]
Strasburg is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town by population in the county and is known for its grassroots art culture, pottery, antiques, and American Civil War history. The population was 6,398 at the 2010 census.
The Shenandoah Valley is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, to the north by the Potomac River and to the south by the James River. The cultural region covers a larger area that includes all of the valley plus the Virginia highlands to the west, and the Roanoke Valley to the south. It is physiographically located within the Ridge and Valley province and is a portion of the Great Appalachian Valley.
The Shenandoah River is the principal tributary of the Potomac River, 55.6 miles (89.5 km) long with two forks approximately 100 miles (160 km) long each, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. The river and its tributaries drain the central and lower Shenandoah Valley and the Page Valley in the Appalachians on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in northwestern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. There is a hydroelectric plant along the Shenandoah river constructed in 2014 by Dominion.
Luray Caverns, previously Luray Cave, is a cave just west of Luray, Virginia, United States, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system is adorned with speleothems such as columns, mud flows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and mirrored pools. The caverns host the Great Stalacpipe Organ, a lithophone made from solenoid-fired strikers that tap stalactites of varied sizes to produce tones similar to those of xylophones, tuning forks, or bells.
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Ruby Falls is a series of underground cascading waterfalls totaling 145 feet (44 m) in Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the United States.
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Howe Caverns is a cave in Howes Cave, Schoharie County, New York. Howe Caverns is a popular tourist attraction, providing visitors with a sense of caving or spelunking, without needing the advanced equipment and training usually associated with such adventures.
Black Chasm Cavern is a cave in the hamlet of Volcano in Amador County, California.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center.
Germany Valley is a scenic upland valley high in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia originally settled by German farmers in the mid-18th century. It is today a part of the Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest, although much ownership of the Valley remains in private hands.
Grand Caverns, formerly known as Weyer's Cave, is located in the central Shenandoah Valley in the town of Grottoes, Virginia, United States. A limestone cavern, it claims the distinction of being America's oldest show cave, in operation since 1806.
Natural Tunnel State Park is a Virginia state park, centered on the Natural Tunnel, a massive naturally formed cave that is so large it is used as a railroad tunnel. It is located in the Appalachian Mountains near Duffield in Scott County, Virginia.
The Atta Cave or Attendorn Dripstone Cave in Attendorn is one of the largest dripstone caves in Germany.
Read's Cavern is a cave at Burrington Combe, Somerset, England, in which traces of Iron Age occupation have been found. It lies under Dolebury Hill. Its large main chamber has a boulder ruckle floor and is parallel to a cliff face. The cave was excavated by the University of Bristol Spelæological Society (UBSS) in the 1920s, when relics of Iron Age occupation were found.
Diamond Caverns in Park City, Kentucky was discovered on July 14, 1859. Tours are available year around; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. Tours last one hour and is a half mile round trip.
The Caverns at Natural Bridge are a series of commercial show caves in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, close in proximity to both the Natural Bridge and Natural Bridge State Park. Discovered in the 1890s, it was opened to the public in 1977.
The Derbyshire Dome is a geological formation across mid-Derbyshire in England.