Cosmic Caverns


Useful Information

Location: Berryville, between Eureka Springs and Branson MO. 11 km north of Berryville on State Hwy 21.
(36.435743, -93.497401)
Open: Memorial Day to Labor Day daily 9-18.
Labor Day to Memorial Day daily 9-17.
Closed Thanksgiving and 25-DEC.
[2022]
Fee: Adults USD 20, Children (5-12) USD 10, Children (0-4) free.
Groups (10+): Adults USD 17, Children (5-12) USD 7.
Groups (20+): Adults USD 16, Children (5-12) USD 6.50.
Groups (30+): Adults USD 15, Children (5-12) USD 6.
[2022]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst cave
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension: T=17 °C.
Guided tours: D=75 min, L=535 m.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Cosmic Cavern, 6386 Highway 21 North, Berryville, AR 72616, Tel. +1-870-749-2298. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1845 discovered by a prospector named John Moore, who was searching for lead.
1993 new section named Silent Splendor discovered, featured in newspapers all over the USA and on CBS News.

Description

Cosmic Cavern is the warmest cavern in the Ozarks. It is home to many animals, like trouts living in the first cave lake for 50 years now. In this time they lost their pigmentation and some got blind. This is the beginning of the adaptation to this subterranean environment, and makes clear that these fish never visit the surface.

Another animal, which lives in the cave, has completed this adaptation long ago. It is the blind cave salamander, which lives in several caves in the Ozarks, but is very rare. It is endemic, which means it is only found in the Ozarks. It is a "relative" to the olm (Proteus anguinus), which lives in the Dinaric karst.

The cave became known to the general public in 1993, when a new discovered cave chamber called Silent Splendor was featured in newspapers all over the USA and on CBS News. This chamber is praised for its abundance of delicate speleothems, stalagmites, stalactites, helictites, aragonite and gypsum minerals. It is now part of the cave tour.