Tuckaleechee Caverns

Rock formations in the Tuckaleechee Caverns

Tuckaleechee Caverns ( pronunciation ) is a commercial cave and tourist attraction located in Townsend, Tennessee.

History

Indian legend

According to legend, the Cherokee knew of the caverns and hid in caves before the white man. However Indians never went into Tuckaleechee Caverns but held ceremonys at the entrance. They believed that evil spirits inhabited the cavern and tried to keep them from coming out with rituals.The Cherokees lived in this part of the nation until about 1840 when the United States forced them to move to Oklahoma in a bitter winter trip known as The Trail of Tears. Some refused to leave and eventually were granted land in western North Carolina at Cherokee.

Cavern development History

 
  The cavern entrance was rediscovered around 1850 by Little River Lumber Company in Dry Valley(part of Tuckaleechee Cove).  Dry Valley has no surface water. The loggers knew this but did not know the water was all subterranean and the ground was hollow. The loggers did see that ,when it rained, the water would wash off from the mountains into a certain sinkhole but it would never fill up.  They cleared the debris off and found a small opening about as big around as a 45gal barrel. The loggers never made it to the main passageway because the use of tar torches. Then it was forgotten for many years after, until, Bill Vananda and best friend Harry Myers found the caverns when they were six years old. They played in the caverns throughout childhood. They graduated Maryville College then went to fight on the beaches of Normandy in WW2. When they returned home no jobs were to be found. They moved to Alaska to work on the Alaskan pipeline in order to raise enough money to develop the caverns. So, in 1953 the caverns were opened after the great depression and is one of the longest family owned and ran business in east Tn.  Tuckaleechee Caverns is the largest and highest rated cave\cavern on the east side of the U.S.  The "BigRoom" is over the length of a football-field in both directions and could fit a 15 story building in it measuring over 150ft high. However, at the bottom of the room is a canyon that drops an additional 150ft. So the passageway is over 300ft top to bottom.  On the other half of the tour is the tallest subterranean waterfall on the eastern side of the U.S. measuring 210ft high making it one of the most active or living caves\caverns you can visit. And one of the very few caves in the world given the highest award possible by AAA.

References

http://tuckaleecheecaverns.com/

External links

• Official website