Truitt's Cave

The Cave Bar & Grill

Useful Information

Location:	313 South Main Street, Lanagan, MO 64847. Lanagan, Missouri, about 290 km south of Kansas City. Hwy 59 between Anderson and Noel. Hwy 71 south to Hwy 59, at Anderson turn west 5 km on 59. (36.604833, -94.454643)
Open:	Cave: unknown. Restaurant: closed Tuesdays. [2015]
Fee:	Cave: unknown. Restaurant: free. [2015]
Classification:	Karst Cave Cave Restaurant
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=45 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:	wheelchair accessible
Bibliography:
Address:	Truitt's Cavern, 313 South Main Street, Lanagan, MO 64847, Tel: +1-417-454-5933. 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

1929	discovered by John Truitt, the “Caveman of the Ozarks”.
1938	opened to the public as a restaurant and show cave.
2000	closed.
2002	purchased by Debbie and Bryon Stewart and reopened.
25-AUG-2004	closed and for sale.
JUL-2013	reopened as a cave restaurant.

Description

The Towers. Early Postcard (1908) by **G.H. Faulkner**, the former owner.

Truitt's Cave is named after John Truitt, who was called the "Caveman of the Ozarks". He discovered and developed six caves in this area as show caves. His story is told on the cave tour. The cave shows nice speleothems and a cave river.

One chamber of the cave is called dining room and has a paved floor, benches and an underground fireplace with a natural solution slot as chimney. It seems this place was used as a restaurant during the 1940s. It was advertised as the cave restaurant of yesteryear and was mentioned in Ripley's Believe It or Not. Later it was open for free picnics. The cave was closed in 2004 and later for sale. In 2013, it was renovated and reopened as a cave restaurant serving traditional american food, sandwiches, burgers, and wraps. It also offers numerous concerts during the year.

The modern way is obviously to create a facebook page instead of creating a real website. This page has a lot of pictures with goats in knitwear (don't ask) and only rudimentary info about the restaurant and the cave. We read some rumours that it is possible to visit the cave again, but we could not find open hours or fee, not even open hours for the restaurant.