Cathedral Caverns State Park
The Cathedral Caverns State Park is between Grant and Woodville in Gunter Mountains in Marshall County (Alabama) of the US state of Alabama . The state park consists of a developed show cave and 187 hectares of above-ground parking with hiking trails, picnic areas, camping grounds and a climbing wall .
The oldest traces of settlement by white settlers date from 1803 when Hans Kennamer built a house 275 m from the cave entrance and gave the name to Kennamer Cove.
Jay Gurley explored the 160 acre cave in 1952, acquired it and began with the expansion of the show cave , the construction of paths to the cave, the wiring and lighting with a total of 80,000 watts. A decade later there were 24,000 visitors annually. Sights include the cave entrance with a height of 7.6 m and a width of 38.4 m, the stalagmite “Goliath” with a height of 13.7 m and a circumference of 74 m and the “Frozen Waterfall” rock formation. After 20 years, Gurley had to close the cave for financial reasons.
In 1972 the Cathedral Cavern was designated a National Natural Landmark .
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources acquired the cave in 1987 and declared it Cathedral Caverns State Park . The following year, archaeological investigations by the University of Alabama and Jacksonville State University found spearheads, arrowheads , shards of vessels, flint and mostly animal bones from small animals in the entrance area . The oldest artifacts could be dated back 9,000 years, the youngest were 200 years old. The rock formations in the cave were formed several million years ago. Inside there is a constant climate of 15.6 ° C. The Mystery River flows through the cave and, depending on the amount of precipitation, the water depth can vary between 15 cm and 12 m.
In 1995, filming for the feature film Tom and Huck took place inside. In the following years restoration work followed so that a reopening for tourists could take place in May 2000.
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- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.showcaves.com/english/usa/showcaves/CathedralAL.html
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/Registry/USA_Map/States/Alabama/NNL/CC/
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.showcaves.com/english/usa/showcaves/CathedralAL.html
Coordinates: 34 ° 34 ′ 15 " N , 86 ° 13 ′ 38" W.