If you’re vacationing in the Ozarks this summer and looking for some cool activity you can do, consider a visit to Cosmic Cavern between Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Branson, Missouri.
The cave stays at a naturally cool 64 degrees throughout the season, making it the perfect place for a comfortable family adventure everyone will remember.
Discovery
In 1845, three men prospecting for lead and silver discovered this cave. Their last name was Moore, so the place received the name Moore’s Cavern. The title didn’t stick, however. Before it became Cosmic Cavern in 1972, it also was known as Bear Cave, Johnson’s Cave, Majestic Cave, Maple Cave, Maple Springs Cave, Mystery Cave and Mystic Cave. When a group of men first explored it, they descended 200 feet on a rope to reach the cave floor. More than eight decades passed before tours started in 1927.
Incredible Features
Today, as visitors venture into Cosmic Cavern, strategic illumination casts lights and shadows onto a wonderland of stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, soda straws, helictites, cave bacon, draperies and many other “speleothems.”
The Silent Splendor room, discovered in 1993, contains delicate soda straw formations up to 9 feet long.
Underground lakes seen on the tour are so deep, their bottoms have yet to be discovered. For many years, the 48-degree waters were stocked with trout that turned ghostly white from living in darkness.
The trout are gone, but watch closely and you could spot an unusual Ozark blind salamander.
Cosmic Cavern is located at6386 Highway 21 North near Berryville. Learn more at cosmiccavern.com.
