Dunbar Cave (Montgomery County, Tennessee)

 

Returning home from a visit to see some of my family in Western Kentucky, I decided to stop by for a ranger-guided tour of a well-known cave near Clarksville, TN. Dunbar Cave is the centerpiece of a state park, which is named accordingly. There a huge number of caves in this part of the world and while I'm not much of a caver (or spelunker), I do enjoy the occasionally journey into the depths. 

I arrive well before the tour's start time and speak briefly with some of the rangers before walking around Swan Lake, which is fed by the creek flowing from the cave and was once home to a very popular resort. In recent times though, the state park service has allowed the lake to return to a more natural state of swampy wetlands. It attracts quite a few waterfowl, or so it seems. That said though, the heat is crazy and I return to the visitors center to wait for my tour in the cool air.

At the appointed time, two of the three rangers call the group together and we wander outside. As he tells us a little of the history of the park and cave, we being to stroll down towards the entrance. The cave has been known for thousands of years to the indigenous peoples, but gained some celebrity in the 1950's after Country Music Legend Roy Acuff purchased the land and begin holding concerts at the cave entrance. The cool air blowing out of the cave must have been a big part of the attraction, but apparently many musical stars of the period would perform here later in the evening after having put on shows at the nearby Grand Ole Opry.

The park service respects the local Cherokee's view of the cave as sacred and does not allow pictures inside. They also removed all electrical lighting inside the cave and require visitors to bring flashlights (face masks are also required at this time due to the pandemic). As soon as we approach the entrance, the cool air offers a nice break from the intense heat and humidity of a July summer day in Tennessee.

The entrance is locked by a steel grate, but the rangers quickly unlock it and we begin our tour. It's unfortunately, but it seem that the last century or so has not been kind to the cave. During it's time as a resort destination, visitors were encouraged to enter the cave and scratch their name or break off a stalagmite or stalactite to take home as a souvenir. The early part of the cave is so damaged, that the Native American pictographs and petroglyphs inside were not even discovered until 2005, well after the park had been established. 

*Note: Photo courtesy of Google

During the tour, our guide highlights three panels. The pictures included here were borrowed from a Google search. The first panel, drawn with charcoal, would seem to represent the sun and an unknown object, perhaps a meteor or comet. The ranger states that carbon dating showed it to be between 800 and 1000 years old. Given the time frame, I also wonder if it could be a representation of the 1054 CE Crab Supernova, which was documented elsewhere in the world and would have been visible for some months.

The second panel is a series of thirteen circular pictographs and four circular petroglyphs. Each circle contains other small circles within in varying patterns. As the group discusses it's meaning, I'm forced to think of the 13 Moons Petroglyph near Bishop, CA. I suggest that perhaps the thirteen pictographs represent the lunar cycles of the solar year, and were drawn independently of the four pictographs. We may never know, but speculating is rather fun.

Finally, we reach an anthropomorphic pictograph. This one is a life-sized humanoid with a triangular head and what appear to be bear-like feet. The figure holds objects or tools in each hand, but they are difficult to discern. Perhaps this was a burial place or this was a spirit guarding ancient travelers as they explore the cave. It's an interesting depiction, but we likely never know the artist's true intent.

*Note: Photo courtesy of Google

The next section of the cave requires some amount of squatting to get to, but in days past would have only been accessible by crawling on our bellies. The park service or one of the entities that owned the cave previously carved out a walkway to a much more manageable height. As we enter the last room of the tour, Independence Hall, it's clear that this room wasn't accessed nearly as much as many of the previous areas. Here numerous columns and flow-stones have formed at the meeting of stalagmites and stalactites. It's quite a beautiful area. 

The cave extends some eight miles in total, but for today, this short tour will have to suffice. As this is the last room we visit, we do an about-face and return the the cave entrance the way we came. It was well worth the stop and I'm glad to have had the opportunity.