Zane Shawnee Caverns

Zane Caverns


Useful Information

Location: Logan County.
Open: DEC to MAR Tue-Sun 10-16.
APR to NOV daily 10-16.
[2007]
Fee: Adult USD 11, Children USD 5.
[2007]
Classification:
Light:
Dimension:
Guided tours: L=290 m, D=45 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: Zane Shawnee Caverns & Southwind Park, 7092 State Route 540, Bellefontaine, OH 43311, tel: +1-937-592-9592 fax: +1-937-592-4458.
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

1892 discovered by John Dunlap who helped a boy retrieve his dog which had fallen into a sinkhole.
1971 Tony Oldham's visit.
1996 purchased by the Shawnee Nation, United Remnant Band.

Description

A beautiful sight of Zane Shawnee Caverns are numerous gours and micro gours containing cave pearls. However, the pictures on their website do not show any noteworthy formation. A comment by a reader was "cute little cave, primitive lighting". We have no first hand information, but we guess the cave is not worth the rather high entrance fee.

Probably more interesting than the cave are the attached Woodland Indian MKuseum and the Pioneer Village. Zane Shawnee Caverns and Southwind Park is owned by the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band, a state-recognized division of the Shawnee tribe, and the only division of the Shawnee to still reside in the ancestral homeland of Ohio.

I was not impressed by this cave as it only consists of a 290 m long passage. From the gift shop, a wooden tunnel, on the surface [!] leads to a stone building containing a flight of steps, which descend for about 12 m. After a 200 m long walk along a rift passage, notably devoid of formations one encounters some highly suspect pocket of cave pearls. A nearby sign warns that there is a $500 fine or 6 months in jail for anyone removing same. Another flight of steps lead back to the surface.


Text by Tony Oldham (1971). With kind permission.