Crystal Cave (Pennsylvania) facts for kids
Crystal Cave is an amazing underground world near Kutztown, Pennsylvania. It's located in Berks County, Pennsylvania, a beautiful area known as Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Two men, William Merkel and John Gehret, discovered this incredible cave on November 12, 1871. It quickly became a very popular place to visit.
Soon after it was found, newspapers said it was "more beautiful" than the famous Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Crystal Cave was the first "show cave" to open in Pennsylvania. It is still one of the oldest show caves in the United States that has been open non-stop.
History of Crystal Cave
Crystal Cave was found on November 12, 1871. John Gehret and William Merkel were working on a steep hill near Kutztown. They were digging out limestone for local farmers. Farmers used limestone to make their fields better for growing crops.
One day, they set off some dynamite to loosen the limestone. After the blast, they saw a big hole. It was large enough for a person to walk through! News of their discovery spread fast. Local people started going into the cave to explore. They often took calcite and aragonite crystals as souvenirs.
This collecting damaged the cave's natural beauty. So, a farmer named Samuel D. F. Kohler bought the cave. He also bought the land around it, about 47 acres. He paid $5,000 for it in early 1872. Mr. Kohler put a wooden door on the cave entrance. This stopped people from entering without permission.
On May 25, 1872, Mr. Kohler officially opened the cave for visitors. He called the event the "Grand Illumination of the Crystal Cave." He even invited a band, the Greenwich Cornet Band, to play music.
The next year, in 1873, Mr. Kohler started charging 25 cents per person to enter. He also created and sold a guidebook about the cave. This book described the amazing rock formations inside. It talked about stalactites (which hang from the ceiling) and stalagmites (which grow from the floor).
In 1874, Mr. Kohler bought a stagecoach. He used it to bring visitors from train stations to the cave. That same spring, he built a hotel near the cave. It was called the Kohler Hotel, but people also nicknamed it the "Cave House."
On November 2, 1886, Samuel Kohler was getting older. He sold the cave and its businesses to his son, David Kohler. David paid $4,300 for it. David and his wife later got a special license for the hotel. They started holding dances and parties in the "Crystal Cave Ballroom."
In 1923, David Kohler sold Crystal Cave to J. Douglas Kaufman. He ran the cave until 1972, when he sold it to his son, Douglas Kaufman. Douglas Kaufman's daughter then took over in 2007.
The Kaufman family added many fun things for visitors. They built an ice cream parlor and a restaurant. They also added a miniature golf course and a nature trail. There's even a second gift shop and a theater now. The cave was once used to store crops too!
Cool Features of the Cave
Crystal Cave is about 500 feet long from its main entrance to the very back. The lowest part of the cave is called Devil's Den. It is about 155 feet below the Earth's surface. About thirty to forty North American brown bats live there.
The highest point inside the cave is about 65 feet below the Earth's surface. This area is called "Lookout Point." From here, you can see about two-thirds of the entire cave!
Some of the cave's rock formations are incredibly old. They are about half a million years old! One famous formation is called "The Upside-down Ice Cream Cone." It looks like an ice cream cone because of the different colored calcite deposits. Some look like vanilla ice cream, and others look like chocolate. There's even moss and plants that look like mint ice cream!
There is also a huge drop rock inside the cave. It splits a room into two parts, creating a natural bridge.
The temperature inside Crystal Cave stays cool all year round. Different areas of the cave are about 52°F, 54°F, or 56°F. It's a great place to cool off on a hot day!
