Post by L Roebuck on Jun 6, 2006 14:11:00 GMT -5
Gate will allow critters easier entrance to cave
Friends hope to move old cave fixture to park museum
By MELISSA TYNDALL
The Leaf-Chronicle
Dunbar Cave's gate, which has stood on the property since 1979, was taken down Friday to make way for a new entrance to the 8-mile cavern.
The 6-foot tall metal gate is being replaced to stay in line with state officials' desire to make the park more environmentally friendly.
The cave and dance floor will be closed to the public for several days until the work is completed.
Ron Hunter, treasurer of the Friends of Dunbar Cave group, said the new gate was being erected by volunteers and would make the cave more secure and friendlier to cave-dwellers, such as bats. The cave also is home to salamanders, crawfish, roaches, crickets and spiders.
Friends of Dunbar Cave support the park by sponsoring fundraising events and working on the area's trails.
Hunter said the new steel gate will have a two-fold purpose.
The state wanted it to be more environmentally friendly to wildlife in the caves — like bats. The new gate is much stronger and can't be breached in a security sense," he said. "The effort to replace the gate is also saving the state over $100,000."
While a new entrance to the cave is being erected, the old gate soon may serve as the front entrance to the park's museum. The University of Tennessee has plans to send to the museum artifacts that were discovered during a dig at the cave in the 1970s. However, the school must first sort through 65 boxes of the Clarksville history.
"Part of the plan is to take that gate and put it on the door entrance to the new museum area," Hunter said. "I hope that it can work out because it would be so cool. The gate used to make this squeak like a haunted house, and if we could get that squeak in there it would be phenomenal. It's sort of a low-key museum at this point, but there are artifacts coming back."
Melissa Tyndall can be reached by telephone at 245-0719 or via e-mail at melissatyndall@theleafchronicle.com.
The Leaf-Chronicle
Friends of Dunbar cave state natural area
Friends hope to move old cave fixture to park museum
By MELISSA TYNDALL
The Leaf-Chronicle
Dunbar Cave's gate, which has stood on the property since 1979, was taken down Friday to make way for a new entrance to the 8-mile cavern.
The 6-foot tall metal gate is being replaced to stay in line with state officials' desire to make the park more environmentally friendly.
The cave and dance floor will be closed to the public for several days until the work is completed.
Ron Hunter, treasurer of the Friends of Dunbar Cave group, said the new gate was being erected by volunteers and would make the cave more secure and friendlier to cave-dwellers, such as bats. The cave also is home to salamanders, crawfish, roaches, crickets and spiders.
Friends of Dunbar Cave support the park by sponsoring fundraising events and working on the area's trails.
Hunter said the new steel gate will have a two-fold purpose.
The state wanted it to be more environmentally friendly to wildlife in the caves — like bats. The new gate is much stronger and can't be breached in a security sense," he said. "The effort to replace the gate is also saving the state over $100,000."
While a new entrance to the cave is being erected, the old gate soon may serve as the front entrance to the park's museum. The University of Tennessee has plans to send to the museum artifacts that were discovered during a dig at the cave in the 1970s. However, the school must first sort through 65 boxes of the Clarksville history.
"Part of the plan is to take that gate and put it on the door entrance to the new museum area," Hunter said. "I hope that it can work out because it would be so cool. The gate used to make this squeak like a haunted house, and if we could get that squeak in there it would be phenomenal. It's sort of a low-key museum at this point, but there are artifacts coming back."
Melissa Tyndall can be reached by telephone at 245-0719 or via e-mail at melissatyndall@theleafchronicle.com.
The Leaf-Chronicle
Friends of Dunbar cave state natural area