Wonder Cave 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. [Mark, 08/28/2009]
Wonder Cave - Closed But Still There 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. [Caveman, 06/27/2009]
Wonder Cave - Vague Recollections 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. [mary, 05/22/2009]
Wonder Cave As many people have already mentioned, Wonder Cave has been closed since around 2000. It closed because the family that owns it has no one to operate it. It's my understanding that the older brother owns it, and his sister was the caretaker until the early 2000s when she got married and moved out of state. As a matter of interest, I went to her wedding, which took place at the cave in front of the creek. For those of you who have been to the cave, you can imagine how beautiful it was!
I live a few minutes down the road from Wonder Cave, and have good memories of going a few times when I was a kid with my family. Unfortunately, I don't think it will re-open anytime soon -- if ever. Wonder Cave was successful in the mid 1900s because Hwy. 41 was the main roadway from Chicago to Miami. Now there isn't much traffic of the road so tourism is practically non-existent. [Sarah W., 03/31/2009]
Wonder Cave - Vague Recollections As my grandparents used to live less than 5 minutes down the road, each time we visited we cousins would hit the dark, slippery trails into the cave (after paying the admission fee). What a great memory to have. I would take my 3 children down if they were still open just to relive the past one more time.
My favorite memory of Wonder Cave was going at night with my 2 older cousins Ricky and Glen and their dates after hours. Pulling up without the trucks lights on, slipping past the barking dogs, with one flashlight, preparing the lanterns quietly, and then heading down into the beautiful cave. What a wonderful place that might someday reopen. [Rob Payne, 01/22/2009]
