page_title: Cathedral Caverns State Park
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Cathedral Caverns State Park / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the bottom of the entrance of the Cathedral Cavern in 2019
context_page_description: Cathedral Caverns State Park is a publicly owned recreation area and natural history preserve located in Kennamer Cove, Alabama, approximately 5 miles northeast of Grant and 7 miles southeast of Woodville in Marshall County. The park's main feature, first known as Bats Cave, was developed as a tourist attraction in the 1950s. Cathedral Caverns was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1972 and opened as a state park in 2000.
context_section_description: Cathedral Caverns is a karst cave with a large stalagmite forest covering approximately 3 acres (1.2 ha). The public portion of the cave extends along 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) wheelchair-accessible, concrete walkways for approximately 3,500 feet (1,100 m) and has some 2 miles (3.2 km) of paths; another 2,700 feet (820 m) extend beyond the end of the pathway. Some 11,000 feet (3,400 m) have been surveyed and explored; only experienced cavers are allowed to go beyond the developed trail. The cave system laid claim to many world records in its commercial heyday though their accuracy has been disputed.
  Features
  Notable features of the caverns include:
  an entrance measuring 25 feet (7.6 m) tall and 128 feet (39 m), believed to be the world's widest entrance to a commercial cave;
  the column known as Goliath, one of the largest stalagmites in the world measuring 45 feet (14 m) tall and 243 feet (74 m) in circumference;
  a large flowstone "waterfall", 32 feet (9.8 m) tall and 135 feet (41 m) long;
  an "improbable" stalagmite, only 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter at its base and rising at a 45-degree angle from a rock formation to the cave ceiling 25 feet (7.6 m) above;
  The Big Room, 792 feet (241 m) long and 200 feet (61 m) wide;
  Mystery River, which flows through the cavern and due to limited outflow may cause flooding after heavy rain.
caption: Cathedral Cavern Entrance 2019
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