Date Visited: 4/5/2019
We had now completed 304 miles of the 444 mile long scenic drive. Next stop Cave Spring.
Where you have limestone and water, you have the potential for sinkholes and the depression in the ground you see here is just that thing.
Limestone is in the class of rocks called Carbonite. Carbonite is one of the two classes of rocks that are soluble by water – Evaporite being the other.
It is believed that here at Cave Spring, underground water dissolved the limestone to form a large room and corridor. This activity is called solution activity. Eventually the roof of the room collapsed exposing the cave and natural spring.
It is believed that Indians used this site as a source of water. They may have also used it as a source for stone.
At the north end of the sink is where you will find the cave.
Today the cave is unstable and entering it is prohibited. However, you can still peer down into the mouth from an above ground platform,
Although used as a source of water throughout history the water is now contaminated and unsafe to drink.
If I were around in the heyday of the Natchez trace and making that long trek back to the Ohio valley, I’d would have been ecstatic to stumble across such a place.
At our next stop we continue to learn how these springs once played an important roll in the lives of the people who have inhabited the area.
See you next week as we cross state lines and head into Alabama.
Until then…
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