| Location: | I-80 exit 24 Bellefonte, Route 26 south to Pleasant Gap. Turn left on Route 144 South. In the town of Centre Hall, turn left onto Route 192 East to the cave. Signpoisted. |
| Open: |
JAN closed. FEB Sat, Sun 11-17, last tour at 16. MAR daily 9-17, last tour at 16. APR to MAY daily 9-17, last tour at 17. JUN to AUG daily 9-19, last tour at 19. SEP to OCT daily 9-17, last tour at 17. NOV daily 9-17, last tour at 16. DEC Sat, Sun 11-17, last tour at 16. Closed Thanksgiving and 25-DEC. [2006] |
| Fee: |
Adults USD 12, Children (2-12) USD 5.75, Children (0-1) free, Senior Citizen USD 11. Group2 (22+): Adults USD 7, Young Adults (13-18) USD 4, Children (2-12) USD 3. [2006] |
| Classification: |
 Karst cave,
River cave
|
| Light: | electric |
| Dimension: | T=11°C. |
| Guided tours: | By boat. D=60min, L=1,600m. |
| Bibliography: |
Henry W. Shoemaker (1916):
Penn's Grandest Cavern: The History, Legends and Description of Penn's Cave in Centre County, Pennsylvania,
|
| Address: |
Penn's Cave, Inc., 222 Penn's Cave Road, Box 165A, Centre Hall, PA 16828, Tel: +1-814-364-1664, Fax: +1-814-364-8778.
E-mail: |
| Last update: | $Date: 2008/07/01 20:32:43 $ |
| discovered by the Seneca Indians. | ||
| 1795 | visited by James Martin. | |
| 1885 | opened to the public. Penn's Cave House built as a hotel. |
Penn's Cave is a rather exceptional cave, as the whole cave tour is made by boat. It is said to be America's only all-water cavern. The main cave passage is filled by a rather silent cave river. The tour is made by flat-bottom motorboats, which accommodate 22 persons.
The cave was known to the local tribe of the native American, the Seneca Indians. Arrowheads, pottery and beads have been found in the cave entrance. They called the river from the cave Karoondinha. On early maps the river was called Big Mahany, later John Penn's Creek.
There are many legends about Penn's Cave, most of them told by Henry W. Shoemaker, state historian and taleteller, in his book. The most famous story, though fictional, is the legend of the Indian maiden Nita-nee.
|
Malachi Boyer, a young Frenchmen from Lancaster County, explored the wilderness. Once in April, he camped at Mammoth Spring, close to the Indian camp of Chief O-Ko-Cho, on the shores of Spring Creek near Bellefonte. He saw Nita-nee, the beautiful daughter of O-Ko-Cho, washing a deerskin in the stream. They immediately fell in love with each other. The Indians would not permit their marriage, so they decided to run away. But they were captured by the seven brothers of Nita-nee and returned to Chief O-Ko-Cho. O-Ko-Cho told his sons to thrust him into a nearby cavern, filled with water (Penn's Cave). They guarded the entrance, so he tried to find another entrance. After swimming around in the water for a week he died because of exhaustion. As he did not want the Indians to see him die, he crawled into one of the furthermost recesses of the cavern. They later found him and weighted the body with stones before they dropped it in the deepest water in the cavern. Until today, on still summer nights, a sound like "Nita-nee - Nita-nee" rings through the cavern. Old legend. |
In 1855 the farm with the cave was rented to Jacob Harshbarger by the owner Samuel Vantries. Harshbarger had his own story about the first European to enter the cave: James Martin from Ireland was an honor graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, and pastor of the Presbyterian congregation in Penns Valley. He entered the cave, and caught a cold in the cave from which he never fully recovered, until he died in 1795.
The cave was developed by Jesse and Samuel Long. Their father had been against "pleasure-seekers entering the cave", but they realized the financial possibilities of a show cave. They built Penn's Cave House and a large boat, and began charging admission to the cave.
After some wrong financial decisions, they had to sell the cave and hotel to H.C. and R.P. Campbell. They further developed the cave and made it one of the most unique resorts in central Pennsylvania. Because of the increasing number of automobiles in the begin of the 20th century and the increasing tourism, the number of cave visitors increased continually.
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