Grand Caverns, Grottoes Virginia

  I am linking up with Gemma's  Scenic Weekend 

A few weekends ago hubby and I took a tour of the Grand Caverns in Grottoes, Virginia. The Grand Caverns were discovered in 1804 by trapper Bernard Weyer. The Caverns were declared a National Natural landmark in 1973. It is the oldest opened show cave in North America.

These photos are much nicer to see on a larger image, so please click on the photo to see the scene enlarged.  I have to say I am sorry for posting so many photos, but I took so many and it was hard choosing which ones to use.

 

The colored light were pretty, I was not able to capture the reflection in the little pond in front.

I believe some of the shapes like above are called draperies.

The various shapes and colors are kind of neat. My hubby is the spleunker in the family, he is a member of the Baltimore Grotto Club. I do not mind going into the commercial caves but I have some awful experiences going into the private caves with my hubby.  

It is hard to believe but these caverns were opened to the public in the 1800's and one room in the cavern is called the Grand Ballroom. They actually held dances with bands and refreshments by candlelight back in the early 1800's . Electric lighting was not added until 1889.

The tour is approximately 1 mile of walking and around 70 minutes long.

This round disc shape was really cool. This cavern has over 200 rare shield formations.

The shapes were amazing, it was a shame to see some pieces were broken off.

It is hard to photograph some of these shapes...but they are thin and disc like in shape. These were the shield formations.

This shot shows just how big some of the shapes were compared to the people on the tour. I would highly recommend visiting the Grand Caverns if you are in the area. It is not too far off from the Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park.

Some of the other posts I did from our cave visits in other areas: this was in Curacao More scenes from Curacao and another cave visit in Bermuda here Bermuda's Crystal cave


I hope you enjoyed my scenic weekend.  I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.  

 Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your comments. Thanks for stopping by to see my post and thanks to Gemma for hosting Scenic Weekends.