Post by L Roebuck on Apr 11, 2006 14:27:52 GMT -5
Lighting the old cave's secrets
By Royce Williams, News-Gazette Editor/Reporter
Cub Run Cave is the best kept secret along the county line between Grayson and Hart counties. But it won't be long before anyone can walk half a mile through what many are calling the most beautiful cave in this neck of the woods.
Terry and Judy Schneble, who live in Lebanon Junction and are about to open the Nolin General Store at Wax, bought the 200 acres above the cave last November.
“I bought it without seeing it (the cave),” Schneble said as he helped electricians check the wiring at the general store.
“My wife went down there and looked at it while we were at an auction on the top of the hill, and she came back beside herself talking about what a fantastic find it was, so I bid on it and got it,” he said.
Discovered in 1950 by Kenneth Childress when he was growing up on a nearby farm, the cave opened for a few visits by the public, but surface land was owned by three owners, and all of them couldn't agree on how the attraction should be managed.
After the courts finished listening to the claims and counterclaims, the cave was sealed.
Now, Schneble plans to open the nearly pristine cave to visitors. He's shooting for a late May opening, he said, “and believe me, we'll let everybody know.”
Construction of a half-mile walkway has delayed the opening, because to keep the pristine quality of the cave, Schneble said, all the lumber had to be sawed outside the cave, then carried in and nailed to the walkway.
It's the same with the wiring for lights that has to be hidden from view. None of the workers are allowed to carry food into the cave, and, of course, there's no smoking inside.
Schneble said this work had caused a delay in what he had hoped to be a spring opening.
Geologically, the cave presents a surprise at almost every turn. A 44-degree spring creek (once called Otter Spring) runs through the cave that Schneble estimates is about a mile and a half long. “There may be side caves, too, but we haven't had time to explore that much.”
Inside, the cave shows signs of past flooding, rounded grooves in the ceiling rock show the effects of water, but interspersed are dripping stalactites that turn the leached minerals into stalagmites on the floor of the cave, growing at a rate of less than an inch in 37 years.
At one stop along the unchallenging boardwalk, a pool holds blind crawfish and minnows in its eight feet of cold water.
With each drip into the center of the pool, ripples move to the shoreline and form arabesques of stone.
There are fan-shaped formations, others that resemble soda straws, popcorn and one that is an almost perfect arrowhead.
A few bats call the cave home, but they aren't there in large numbers and are not endangered, so shouldn't interfere with tours.
Schneble has plans outside the cave, too. A restaurant is nearly finished (just off Hwy 88), as is a gift shop just across a breezeway from the restaurant.
“We want to serve home-cooked food,” he said, “and the gift shop will be similar to the Cracker Barrel shops, but we'll decorate with local crafts as much as we can.” he said.
Covered with dust now from the construction is an old cider press that Schneble says will be a centerpiece of the decor.
Looking on down the road, he talks about “building four to 10 cabins for visitors, maybe a petting zoo, gold (pyrite) panning in the stream, horseback riding trails, and the water in the creek's cold enough for trout, so maybe some fishing for guests.”
He said the cave can't be made handicapped accessible by the end of May, “but we're going to figure out a way to do that later on.”
“We're especially interested in kids, school groups on field trips,” he said, “so we'll have a special rate for them, because they can learn so much in the cave.”
Schneble says there will be a special rate, too, for seniors, “and I think the walkway's going to be okay for them; there's no spot on the tour where you have to do anything by walk and stop and look.”
On Wednesday's (Apr. 5) sneak preview for pictures, local resident Garry Childress followed along.
“I've wanted to go through this cave for 30 years,” he said, “and I just couldn't believe how great it is; it was worth the wait!”
Schneble said he has been in contact with Kenneth Childress, who was a teenager when he discovered and explored the cave with a kerosene lantern and now lives in Louisville, “and he said he wanted to be the first guy to buy the first ticket on the first tour.”
“We're gonna honor that request,” Schneble said. “We may just take him through by himself and let him linger anywhere he wants to and tell us any story he wants to tell.”
www.gcnewsgazette.com/articles/2006/04/10/local_news/news51.txt
By Royce Williams, News-Gazette Editor/Reporter
Cub Run Cave is the best kept secret along the county line between Grayson and Hart counties. But it won't be long before anyone can walk half a mile through what many are calling the most beautiful cave in this neck of the woods.
Terry and Judy Schneble, who live in Lebanon Junction and are about to open the Nolin General Store at Wax, bought the 200 acres above the cave last November.
“I bought it without seeing it (the cave),” Schneble said as he helped electricians check the wiring at the general store.
“My wife went down there and looked at it while we were at an auction on the top of the hill, and she came back beside herself talking about what a fantastic find it was, so I bid on it and got it,” he said.
Discovered in 1950 by Kenneth Childress when he was growing up on a nearby farm, the cave opened for a few visits by the public, but surface land was owned by three owners, and all of them couldn't agree on how the attraction should be managed.
After the courts finished listening to the claims and counterclaims, the cave was sealed.
Now, Schneble plans to open the nearly pristine cave to visitors. He's shooting for a late May opening, he said, “and believe me, we'll let everybody know.”
Construction of a half-mile walkway has delayed the opening, because to keep the pristine quality of the cave, Schneble said, all the lumber had to be sawed outside the cave, then carried in and nailed to the walkway.
It's the same with the wiring for lights that has to be hidden from view. None of the workers are allowed to carry food into the cave, and, of course, there's no smoking inside.
Schneble said this work had caused a delay in what he had hoped to be a spring opening.
Geologically, the cave presents a surprise at almost every turn. A 44-degree spring creek (once called Otter Spring) runs through the cave that Schneble estimates is about a mile and a half long. “There may be side caves, too, but we haven't had time to explore that much.”
Inside, the cave shows signs of past flooding, rounded grooves in the ceiling rock show the effects of water, but interspersed are dripping stalactites that turn the leached minerals into stalagmites on the floor of the cave, growing at a rate of less than an inch in 37 years.
At one stop along the unchallenging boardwalk, a pool holds blind crawfish and minnows in its eight feet of cold water.
With each drip into the center of the pool, ripples move to the shoreline and form arabesques of stone.
There are fan-shaped formations, others that resemble soda straws, popcorn and one that is an almost perfect arrowhead.
A few bats call the cave home, but they aren't there in large numbers and are not endangered, so shouldn't interfere with tours.
Schneble has plans outside the cave, too. A restaurant is nearly finished (just off Hwy 88), as is a gift shop just across a breezeway from the restaurant.
“We want to serve home-cooked food,” he said, “and the gift shop will be similar to the Cracker Barrel shops, but we'll decorate with local crafts as much as we can.” he said.
Covered with dust now from the construction is an old cider press that Schneble says will be a centerpiece of the decor.
Looking on down the road, he talks about “building four to 10 cabins for visitors, maybe a petting zoo, gold (pyrite) panning in the stream, horseback riding trails, and the water in the creek's cold enough for trout, so maybe some fishing for guests.”
He said the cave can't be made handicapped accessible by the end of May, “but we're going to figure out a way to do that later on.”
“We're especially interested in kids, school groups on field trips,” he said, “so we'll have a special rate for them, because they can learn so much in the cave.”
Schneble says there will be a special rate, too, for seniors, “and I think the walkway's going to be okay for them; there's no spot on the tour where you have to do anything by walk and stop and look.”
On Wednesday's (Apr. 5) sneak preview for pictures, local resident Garry Childress followed along.
“I've wanted to go through this cave for 30 years,” he said, “and I just couldn't believe how great it is; it was worth the wait!”
Schneble said he has been in contact with Kenneth Childress, who was a teenager when he discovered and explored the cave with a kerosene lantern and now lives in Louisville, “and he said he wanted to be the first guy to buy the first ticket on the first tour.”
“We're gonna honor that request,” Schneble said. “We may just take him through by himself and let him linger anywhere he wants to and tell us any story he wants to tell.”
www.gcnewsgazette.com/articles/2006/04/10/local_news/news51.txt