Monteagle - Pelham, Tennessee: Wonder Cave (Closed)

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.

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.

Wonder Cave was open as recently as the early 2000s. We went in with our children in 2001, and I believe it was open for a year or two after that.

As another poster noted, Wonder Cave did not have electric lights. The tour was conducted by the light of Coleman lanterns carried by the guide and tour members. This made it much more of "wild" cave experience than other commercial caves. It probably also made it expensive to operate; as campers can attest, Coleman lanterns are fragile contraptions, and I imagine dropped and broken lanterns wiped out a lot of profit.

There was a B&B next to the cave. The B&B's yard had a lot of religious statuary with ivy growing all over it. That business is now also closed.

Wonder Cave, Valley Home or Monteagle or Pelham, Tennessee in Grundy County.

My wife and I were on a wonderful motorcycle ride heading North on U.S. Hwy 41. We saw a large, old sign that pointed to Wonder Cave on the right. We turned, then followed another sign to turn left down another side road. We arrived at two locked gates to a parking lot and a good size building. There was evidence of the words Wonder Cave on the front wall of the building. It has in fact been closed for years from the way it looked (a shame).

But the grass was neatly mowed... I wonder who owns it and why it closed?

I can at least tell you that it has been closed since 1988 (I think it might have reopened for a brief time after that) A friend of mine and I went exploring in the closed cave when we were teenagers. (Why padlock the door leading down into the cave, when you can swim in via the creek?).