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Post by crabio on Jul 2, 2007 21:42:40 GMT -5
A long time ago, I worked an after school job at a house on Ooltewah Georgetown Road in Ooltewah Tennessee for a man who was trying to tap into a cave under his house. He was hoping to use the cave for ventilation. I think his last name was Neal ....
I'm just wondering if anyone out there has ever heard of this cave
Back in 1981 we had excavated the entire crawl space section under his house that was probably 10-20 feet high from the dirt to the floor joists under his house.
It was pretty incredible ...
-crabio
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Post by Azurerana on Jul 2, 2007 22:59:39 GMT -5
I'm not in TN...don't know the house or cave..
If a person wants to do this, he/she is going to have two problems: needs to check for radon levels in the air (a little radon isn't bad...a lot of radon, or radon plus cigarette smoking can increase one's propensity for lung cancer much over smoking alone.
Second problem they're going to have is humidity/mold/mildew, etc, unless they do something about better ventilation in the house. (Which would also solve the radon problem.)
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L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on Jul 3, 2007 10:43:56 GMT -5
No I have never heard of this dig for a possible Tennessee cave under a house. But it is fairly common as well as economical to use cave air for natural air conditioning in homes - that is when a cave is actually available.  |
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Post by crabio on Jul 3, 2007 11:09:37 GMT -5
I'm hoping someone else besides me has heard of this or maybe remembers it from way back then.
The man hired me, my brother and a friend of ours for after school and on weekends and an entire summer. Our job was to haul out off the rock and dirt from under the house and to wriggle into small openings he'd find to see if we had struck the "big cavern". We'd excavate using picks, jackhammers and yes ... even dynamite. That's right ... under his house !
To my recollection we only found a room the size of a small apartment but he was convinced that there was an airplane hanger sized cavern down there and that's what we were digging for.
Fun times .....
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Brian Roebuck
Site Admin
Caver
Caving - the one activity that really brings you to your knees!
Posts: 2,732
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Post by Brian Roebuck on Jul 3, 2007 19:35:06 GMT -5
And to think I dig open caves for free! ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Brad Tipton on Jul 9, 2007 19:55:14 GMT -5
Was the cave north or south of Mahan Gap Road
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Post by crabio on Jul 11, 2007 10:02:37 GMT -5
Southwest of Mahan gap road ... Drive down Ooltewah Georgetown Road heading toward Ooltewah. Drive past Providence Road on your right and I think it's about 3 houses down on the right. Last time I was there, the house was yellow. I've decided next time I go for a visit, I may knock on the door and ask "Hey !!!! Can I see under your house  ??" |
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Post by Brad Tipton on Jul 11, 2007 15:55:50 GMT -5
That isn't the cave I was thinking about. We rescued a dog out of a spring cave a few miles miles from Mahan Gap Rd. It was not in the TCS. The one you describe is about only a few hundred yards from my house and I know it isn't in the TCS. There is a year round stream that runs through some yards in that area. There is likely another small spring there. You have intrigued me.......
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Post by Brad Tipton on Jul 13, 2007 13:30:15 GMT -5
Yeah there is a spring resurgence on the property of the Episcopal Church right off the road. It just happens to be about 40 yards from a 2 story yellow house. The church built a walkway to a bridge than spans the small creek that the spring empties into. There was a small entrance but I couldn't detect any airflow.
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Post by crabio on Jul 16, 2007 13:30:28 GMT -5
Hey Brad ... I bet that is the house. I think it is a 2 story one now that I think about it. The people that lived there when I was a kid working there were named Neal. I can't remember the mans first name. I remember his wife was convicted of embezzling money from a bank (or insurance company?) a few years after I left and my Mom used to kid me that that's probably the reason he was able to pay me and my brother so well (15 bucks an hour in 1980)
You should knock on their door and ask about the cave under their house !
Me and my friends used to explore this other cave near my house. From your place, back towards Mahan Gap Road, is McKenzie Lane. That's where I lived. We used to hike to the base of the mountain there (White Oak Mountain), and then travel back towards Mahan Gap Road and then there was this pretty good sized cave that we used to explore on a regular basis. It was easy to miss. You'd be walking along and then all of a sudden there was this big hole in the ground where the entrance was. I remember it being pretty extensive and our exploring was to find an entrance to the mythical White Oak Mountain cave.
All my life, I had been taught that there was a huge cave that ran the length of White Oak mountain. The story went that on real quiet nights, you could hear rumbling from the mountain and that the rumbling was the cave collapsing.
We never did find any entrance but I'll tell you that we explored that mountain top to bottom and it's some of the most fondest memories I have from my childhood.
-c
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Post by crabio on Jul 16, 2007 13:31:47 GMT -5
By the way .... what is the TCS ?? |
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Post by tncaveres on Jul 26, 2007 14:11:01 GMT -5
Tn cave survey
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