Fascinating Luray Caverns, USA

Published in "Jaunt"


Luray Caverns --- Bewitching Beauty

It is the first Sunday of March, the day following our arrival at Washington from Orlando. The transformation is stark, both weather-wise and in terms of the ambience. We realize the pulsating environs that characterized Orlando’s Disney World, is a far cry from the quiet Maryland region of Washington where my brother and his family resides. And yes, of course, while Orlando was pleasantly chilly, it’s freezing cold in Washington with the gentle snowflakes caressing our cheeks.

With just a week to spend in Washington, we are determined to squeeze in as many places of interest as possible without compromising on quality time spent in each place. We decide on Luray Caverns, the largest caverns in the eastern USA and a National Landmark, as our first place of visit. Following a sumptuous breakfast, we begin the hour and a half long drive to Luray.

The scenic drive from Maryland, Washington to Luray Caverns, navigating partly through Skyline Drive in the region of Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains, is just phenomenal. Wisps of grey-white clouds bounce playfully on tree tops as we meander through mountains that are bountiful in the array of flora they hold aloft. Especially bewitching are the birch, maple and hickory trees that loom erect from the slopes of the Shenandoah Mountains, over the verdant valleys. There is a sense of timelessness to the route as we weave in and out of clouds, driving amidst a gallery of snow-sprinkled mountains.

We buy our entrance ticket that includes a tour guide to the caverns, and wait our turn to get in. Visitors are allowed in at intervals of roughly 20 minutes in groups of about twenty five. Even while at the queue, there’s not a dull moment as our surrounds are colourful with the Luray Caverns Souvenir shop displaying a medley of ‘buys’ from picture postcards to pens and T-Shirts, cups, glasses, everything that a typical tourist spot would sport to lure its visitors.

I find my imagination running riot as I enter the caverns. The formations are stunning. Words fail me and my camera too dons the mantle of a loyal follower! It does not do enough justice in capturing the beauty that unfolds before me. This fairyland in stone is simply mindboggling and makes me yet again bow down to the mystery and mysticism of Nature. Relentless in her pursuit, she is still at work in the caverns, adding to the formations as is palpable by the presence of water. At least in a couple of areas in the cavern, water has pooled to form lakes that create a brilliant optical illusion and reflect the stalagmite and stalactite artwork abounding here.
The guide, apparently a Filipino whose name I fail to recollect, continues her commentary in a heavily accented American drawl that I soon lose interest listening to her and move away from the group to make my own conjectures and draw my own conclusions from the myriad of shapes I see. Of course, curiosity of the scribe within, forces me to keep at least an ear open to catch names of formations she throws in every now and then as she stops in certain sections of the cavern.

Limestone formations and water hang like thick coils of rope down the ceiling and assume scintillating pillared structures in various hues of white, yellow and cream. Sprawled across the ceiling are delicate drapes of stalactites. Draperies are abundant throughout the cavern and appear in motley of shades of red, orange, yellow, rust and green. We see one of the most spectacular examples of these drapes is Saracen's tent.

We move away from the drapes and are equally awestruck by the hanging, and some entwined serpents, dangling schools of fishes, the sizzling omelette, broccoli, cauliflower and melting cheese, structures that are best seen for their beauty to be experienced. I rue my inability to capture in ink the magnificence of the formations, so intricately sculpted in places that I am apt to believe Nature alone can have done such a perfect job!

Luray has formed over 4,000,000 years and contains some of Nature’s most exquisite handiwork that defies all description. We cannot stop craning our necks to savour the breathtaking sculptures that nature has cast on the ceiling of the caves in innumerable shapes and magnitudes. If they appear as a beautiful stage with pillars and neatly pleated curtains set in a subterranean theatre in one section, another portion is looks very much like a cathedral with towering spires. We realize that every segment of the cave is an amazing artwork of Nature, each different from the other.

The elaborately draped rose-pink stalagmite structure, 35 feet high Empress Column, the double columns measuring 25 feet and 60 feet in height named after Professors Henry and Baird made from adjoining fluted pillars, the several five feet and above stalactite structures in Giant’s Hall, the all-white Titania’s Veil and a huge, rounded white flowstone, the Frozen Fountain, has us holding our breath in complete bewilderment. A few children who are a part of our group are squealing and shrieking as they come upon structure after structure, each beckoning with its special colour, weird shape and exquisite charm.

Some formations are perfectly translucent. Streams of water of varying radius and depth abound the cave. The water in them is impregnated by the carbonate of lime and gives the pools a pearl-like glow. Feathery calcite crystals deck the sides and bottom of the water bodies, adding that much colour and beauty to the formations that in places appears like tassels elegantly flowing down.

We are awestruck as we peer into the clear blue waters of the Wishing Well that glitters with coins, apparently dropped by visitors to the cave. I perk up my ears to listen to our guide who tells us that over $400,000 have so far been mopped up from this pool of water and have been used to help several charities across the USA. Even as we stand mesmerized by the water lake, we spot some creatures wriggling and snaking their way through tiny crevices in the area and enjoy a splash in the waters. On closer inspection we realize they are tiny lizards and fishes.

The Great Stalactite Organ is one of Luray’s marvels in the cave’s interior. Leland Sprinkle, an electronics engineer is believed to have set to perfect rhythm, 37 stalactite “pipes” to float aria in the calm hollow of the caverns. The organ is an marvelous blend of modern science and nature. According to one version of the story associated with the organ, Sprinkle was inspired to invent the instrument when a tone was produced when his son Robert hit his head on a stalactite column. Well, no matter how he conceived the idea, Sprinkle devised this musical marvel over a period of three years. Klann Organ Supply of Waynesboro, Virginia constructed the organ console. Another intriguing aspect of the instrument is that it can be heard throughout the caverns without the aid of loudspeakers anywhere, explains our guide!

A Mighty Fortress is Our God is believed to have been one of the most commonly recorded and played tune on the organ. Unfortunately for us, we were unable to witness a performance at the Caverns which we come to know is a part of its guided tours and the song repertoire now encompasses hymns, folk songs and other popular musical pieces of the times.

The story of the Caverns goes back perhaps to 600 million years with the Continental drift that separated the Americas from Europe and Africa. It is believed that an ancient sea flooded the region of what is presently the Appalachian Mountains some 400 million years ago. With time, water borne sediments settled and accumulated on the ocean floor over which layers of limestone and fossilized marine animals and shells formed. These layers thus compressed to form metamorphic rocks. In due course of time when the earth’s crustal plates shifted, Africa and North America collided, tilting upwards the layers of metamorphic rock. Water receded but seepages kept happening and lime precipitates began to form. The process continued, giving rise to the formation of stalactites hanging down from the ceiling and stalagmites spiked up from the floor when water droplets fell to the ground. The amazing columns and pillar of stalactites and stalagmites that we see today are the result of centuries of work, since the deposits formed at the rate of one cubic inch in 120 years – obviously Nature has been at her patient best!

The discovery of Luray Caverns is just as interesting as its formation itself. It happened by accident in 1878 by three natives of the region, Andrew Campbell, William Campbell and Benton Stebbins. Observing the protrusion of limestone from the ground and feeling the slight gushing of cool air from a nearby sinkhole, they suspected the presence of caves and hence decided to delve further. Once they had done sufficient digging, Andrew Campbell stepped in to make what later came to be called the “discovery of the century”. The first pillar of stalagmite formation he came upon, he named it Washington Column after the first American President, George Washington.

The one-hour tour inside the caves has us zapped and we are reeling under its spell as we walk out like zombies from an alien planet. We down cupfuls of hot chocolate and coffee at the cavern restaurant, while my niece and nephew partake of some doughnuts, possibly in an attempt to shake ourselves out of the trance.

Other attractions at Luray include the one-acre ornamental garden maze with its towering pathways formed by eight-foot tall evergreen walls and the antique Car & Carriage Caravan Museum. We are constrained by time and so skip the maze, fearing that we might get hopelessly trapped in it for a few hours at least before we find our way out! Yeah, we don’t have the time for this indulgence though we would definitely have loved to get lost in this verdure, especially since we see signs of rains thundering down upon us. We, however manage to breeze through the Museum which houses some well preserved horseless carriages and age-old models of Benz, a 1913 Stanley Steamer, motorcycles, farm vehicles and gangster gateway cars.
True, for want of time we missed the maze and even exploring the surrounds which my brother tells me are beautiful and picturesque. Another time, may be, for the place certainly warrants at least an entire day if one has to drink in its environ.

We do come away feeling consoled that we have managed to learn a lot about the origins and history of the Caverns and how they came to be in their present state. We find it interesting to note that a certain Sam Buracker once owned the land on which the Caverns today stand as a Landmark Monument. Having accumulated heavy debts, he was forced to auction his land. It was bought off rather cheap by the trio who had discovered the Caverns. The buying up of prime property at a fraction of its real value led to court wrangles, the deal nullified. The Caverns were then sold by William Biedler, Buracker’s major creditor, to The Luray Cave & Hotel Company, a subsidiary of the Shenandoah Railroad Company which later became the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company in 1881. The property yet again changed hands in 1890 and 1893. While wrangles for ownership continued, Professor Jerome Collins the explorer postpones his departure to a North Pole expedition to visit the caverns. The Smithsonian Institution evinced interest in the caves and had its scientists visit it. The caves suddenly became the talk of the town and visitors began to throng it.

The sanitarium Limair built in the cave region by Colonel Northcot in 1901, it is claimed was the first air-conditioned home in America. The caverns changed hands for the last time in 1905 when it was purchased by The Luray Caverns Corporation. In 1974, the caverns became a Registered Natural Landmark, a national natural heritage site as designated by the National Park Service and Department of Interior.


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