Monteagle - Pelham, Tennessee: Wonder Cave (Closed)

It's so sad that Wonder Cave closed. You can't even tell where it was on Highway 41 any more. I did get a chance to take my nephew through it in the 1990s when he was a little boy. Even then we were the only people there and had to hunt down somebody to take the tour. This young boy led us through and it was nice. The thing I remember most was the Coca-Cola bottle formation. The iron grates that crossed over the stream were a bit battered even then and a little spooky to cross. It was a very easy tour to walk.

That area just died when the interstate came and there was no exit that took you straight to it. All the signage is now gone. We drove out by there a couple of months ago and I really had to hunt to find the road that took you back there. It was right at the foot of the mountain and for many years after the interstate came through there was still a lot of advertising on barn roofs and all. That is now gone too. A wonderful place that just disappeared and nobody knows it is there any more.

Drove past there (3/17/2014). Still closed, and the sign is getting very shabby. So sad! I visited this cave on a school trip and I loved it.

I am living at the Wonder Cave lodge this summer, and I used to be a tour guide at the cave years ago. The cave was never lit by electric lights and was one of the last lantern lit commercial caves in the United States.

Currently, all Tennessee caves are closed to the public due to an unknown disease that is affecting bats in the United States.

Wonder Cave is about 5 miles down Pelham Mountain Road from Monteagle, Tn. Not far from the bottom of the mountain, there is an old sign for Wonder Cave. Turn right and then left to the foot of the mountain and there is Wonder Cave. The cave was closed in about 2002, but is still there in all its glory.

I know, because my wife and I lived in the Wonder Cave House. It was built into the mountain and served as a B&B while the cave was open. There were electric lights in the cave and it is truly spectacular. I won't go into details of how I know about the cave, but suffice to say there is only one door between outside and the cave. There are a number of other accessible wild caves in the area that spelunkers regularly visit.

Wonder Cave was closed due to lack of patronage.

I was searching for this cave and discovered it was now closed. I wanted my special someone to see it; he has a love of nature too. I visited it as a child some 30 years ago for the first time and loved it. I made a return trip with my family sometime in the late 1990s. It was how I remembered it, very rustic, we were the only ones on our tour. The gift shop looked as if it had some of the same items that were there when I was a kid.

I have visited many caverns over the years and always thought this one was the best, maybe because it was all natural, not commercialized at all. How sad, if more people had known about this natural wonder it would still be open today.