Cave of Crystal Giants:
Show Caves in America
The Naica crystal caves are too dangerous for public access, but show caves across the United States offer a dazzling variety of subterranean adventures for people of all ages and abilities. Show caves are managed caves that feature lighting, walkways and guided tours.
Gary Berdeaux, president of the National Caves Association and managing partner at Kentucky’s Diamond Caverns, says most U.S. caves are limestone and no two are alike. “Each is as unique as a fingerprint,” he said. “Some of the most incredible ones are off the beaten path, but all have a special beauty, whether it’s spectacular sculptural formations or the interplay of light and shadow or a particular geographic setting. And every cave has a story.”
Here are some of Berdeaux’s favorites across the continental United States:
Luray Caverns
Located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley about 90 miles west of Washington, D.C., these caverns feature cathedral-sized chambers with soaring ceilings, towering columns and breathtaking stalactites in colors ranging from bright white to rich reds and yellows. The caverns are noted for the “Great Stalacpipe Organ” that plays symphonic-quality music from a four-keyboard electronic console using stalactites for pipes.
Penn’s Cave
America's only all-water cavern is located in Central Pennsylvania's Penn State country about two hours east of Pittsburgh. Tours are by flat-bottomed motorboat on an underground stream. Along the limestone passageways, stalagmites, stalactites, flowstone cascades and draperies decorate the interior rooms.Used by Seneca Indians and early explorers, Penn's Cave is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mammoth Cave
Mammoth Cave National Park, about 75 miles from Louisville, is home to the world's longest cave system, with more than 365 miles of connected tunnels and waterways.
It is a relatively dry cave so it has few stalactite and stalagmite formations, but Mammoth’s rich history is its major claim to fame. Mummies have been discovered there along with 4,000-year-old petroglyphs.
More than a dozen tours to different parts of the cavern range from 20 minutes to 6 hours.
Popular tours take in the Frozen Niagara, which features waves of stone that mimic falling water, and show the cave by lantern light the way Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jenny Lind and other 19th-century notables saw it. There are even remnants of a long-vanished tuberculosis "hospital" 160 feet underground.
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