# Cumberland Caverns

Cumberland Caverns is a national natural landmark and show cave located in McMinnville, Tennessee. It is the second longest cave in Tennessee and the twelfth longest cave in the United States.

## History

The caverns' main entrance was discovered by Aaron Higginbotham in 1810, while surveying his land on Cardwell Mountain in what is now Warren County. According to legend, Higginbotham was the first man to enter the cave and was lost for three days after his torch went out. It was named Higgenbotham Cave in his honor. Another smaller cave, also located on Cardwell Mountain, was discovered about this time and named Henshaw Cave. Although not nearly as big as Higgenbotham Cave, Henshaw Cave proved to be a source of saltpeter (the main ingredient of gunpowder) and was operated as a saltpeter mine during perhaps both the War of 1812 and the Civil War. In 1869 Shelah Waters, a tax revenuer, explored the cave extensively.
Higgenbotham Cave became a favorite spot for local adventurers during the 19th century. In the early 1940s, members of the National Speleological Society (NSS) began to explore Higgenbotham Cave and greatly increased its known extent. In 1953, a connection between Henshaw Cave and Higgenbotham Cave was discovered by author Tom Barr and local cavers S.R. "Tank" Gorin and Dale Smith. This connection was named the Meatgrinder because of its small size and shape. Soon afterward, Tank and a caver from Indiana named Roy Davis leased the cave from its owner, A.W. Powell, and developed it into a commercial cave. The cave opened under the name Cumberland Caverns on July 4, 1956, and has been open to the public since that time. In 1981, Davis bought a pipe organ and chandelier from Loew's Metropolitan Theatre in Brooklyn and installed them in the cave.
Today, Cumberland Caverns, Inc. offers year-round commercial tours of the cave, claiming it is the longest show cave in Tennessee. Tours include a daytime walking tour, adventure tours, overnight stays, and educational field trips. Weddings, banquets, birthday parties, and Christmas parties are also hosted. Before reaching the cave, tourists pass through a gift shop that sells tour tickets, souvenirs, and novelty items.

## Cumberland Caverns Live

Cumberland Caverns was formerly home to Bluegrass Underground, a monthly music event that took place in the cave's Volcano Room. The event has become a nationally syndicated program airing on PBS. In recent years, Bluegrass Underground moved to The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee. Some of the more notable singers to play during the Bluegrass Underground era were Vince Gill, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Darrell Scott, and Justin Townes Earle.
Now, the Volcano Room is home to Cumberland Caverns Live and hosts a variety of concerts and live music, including acts like Jefferson Starship, Sister Hazel, Kip Moore, and Deer Tick (band).

## Geology

Cumberland Caverns formed in Mississippian Monteagle Limestone on Cardwell Mountain, a western offshoot of the Cumberland Plateau. The cave is home to stalagmites, stalactites, helictites, flowstone, cave pearls, botryoidal coral, gypsum flowers, needles, and pure white gypsum snow, as well as a variety of cave life.
Areas of interest within the cave include:
* The "Volcano Room," where many of the cave's commercial events are hosted.
* "Monument Pillar," a large column considered by many to be one of the most beautiful single speleothems in Tennessee caving.
* A passageway known as "the Dragon's Back" due to its winding spine-like walkways of anthropogenic mud knobs.
* The "Lemon Squeeze," so named because its widest point is only 11 inches (280 mm).
* "Bubblegum Alley," a passageway with standing water and very sticky mud.
* "The Hall of the Mountain King," whose dimensions (nearly 2 football fields in length) make it the largest in the cave.
* The "Saltpeter Room," where the ruins of a Civil War era Confederate saltpeter mine lay intact.