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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
The cave known as Lost World Caverns is located about two miles north of Lewisburg. It is one of the largest caverns in West Virginia and a popular tourist attraction. The cave has about 6,000 feet of surveyed passages, and about 600 feet can be seen on the normal lighted tour. Tours to the unlighted wild part of the cave can be arranged.
The cave was discovered in 1942 and was called Grapevine Cave. It was originally entered by means of a 115-foot vertical shaft rigged with a rope or rope ladder. The present entrance was dug through the hill in 1968 and improved in the early 1980s to provide a more accessible walk-in entrance. The highlight of the tour is a large room about 300 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet high, displaying many calcite formations. The unusual columns, stalagmites, and stalactites make this one of the most spectacular caves in West Virginia.
Bob Addis, who was manager of the cave, set a Guinness World Record for ‘‘stalagmite sitting’’ in 1971 by staying on top of the ‘‘war club’’ stalagmite for 15 days, 23 hours, and 22 minutes. Geologically, Lost World Caverns is in the Greenbrier Group limestones of the middle Mississippian Age.
Written by William K. Jones