Hellertown, Pennsylvania - Lost River Caverns

Lost River Caverns seems very small after visiting such places as Luray Caverns in VA, etc. I haven't visited to take the cavern tour for over 10 ten years because I don't feel it's worth it. However, their gift/mineral shop alone is worth the trip. They have beads made out of many types of rocks & minerals and you can actually pick stones and have them set in jewelry settings (may take anywhere from minutes or a few days depending on if the guy who does it is there at the time, if they are backlogged with orders, etc) and My sister and I like to have jewelry made for birthdays, etc. Visit for the store.

See the cavern once, but I promise you'll go back just for the shop. Plus it's nice and cool in the summer. [Jennifer, 09/20/2008]

One of the long established commercial caves of eastern Pennsylvania, Lost River Caverns dubs itself "Nature's Underground Wonderland." The Caverns celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005. It features five chambers of limestone formations.

In addition to the guided cave tour, Lost River Caverns includes the Gilman Museum, rock and mineral shop, and indoor "Jungle Garden" with a waterfall.

We haven't visited yet in person, but the brochure photos are murky and claustrophobic, with no people in them for scale. So that's promising.... [RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 01/22/2007]

I remember this place fondly from when I was a kid, as it was an annual school-tour destination. Lost River Caverns is interesting because of the 'river' (actually more like a stream) that it gets its name from. A small, fast moving stream that has, according to the tour guides, "never dried up" even in times of drought flows through the attraction. The reason its called 'Lost River' is because the stream has never been successfully located as far as a source or an outlet up to dry ground.

At one point in the tour, you can see a sign, pointing at a wall, talking about rooms that are inaccessible to the tour, due to the fact that one would have to dive into the water, crawl on their belly a few feet, and emerge on the other side of the wall.

One of the caverns is also a shrine, or chapel, but I remember them saying they have had weddings down in the cave. [Jody Roberts, 10/22/2001]