Historic Cavern -3/29/2026
Kristen Raney Reporting:
On the trip was Eric S, Tyler M, Harriet, Mariana, Daisy, Wendy, Cole, Scott D, & Kristen (reporting)
See attached for a few photos!Josh organized this trip to the formerly commercial cavern (cavern name redacted for security reasons) after gaining permission to bring the group from the owner, Paul. The first group met up at the Waynesboro Food Lion to consolidate cars and head to Harrisonburg to pick up a few more members. From there we drove to old cavern. We arrived at the cave site just before 11 am (10:59 by my Google Maps Timeline) After meeting and signing a few waivers, Paul generously guided us through the old commercial section, where remnants of its public past were still visible. We walked right in through the tour entrance door, and a leftover sign warned of fines for damaging formations. The tour lights, still intact (but, according to Paul, possibly of questionable safety), bathed the formations in a spectacular glow. The cave was incredibly decorated. From the second we walked through the door, there was hardly any space in the commercial area that wasn’t absolutely covered in formations. We were also excited to see what had formed since the closure of the commercial operation.
We then split into two groups. Josh led one group to the lower levels of the commercial cave, exploring more formations and pools, with some crawling. Flooding limited how far we could go, but we were able to enjoy views of the various pools, lots of soda straws, colorful flowstones, and chert inclusions. Meanwhile Harriet and Eric led the other group into Raccoon Crawl, where they belly crawled their way through an intimidating entrance to the first room to admire the sights (and smells) before taking on a second belly crawl to a second room with some formations and a few pools. After heading back out, the groups then swapped places, so everyone had a chance to see both areas. Sightings included two bats, a salamander, a bunch of cave crickets, a millipede, tons of raccoon scat, and a few dozen small animal bones.
The two teams swapped places. Afterwards, we regrouped and thanked and said our goodbyes to Paul. We concluded the trip with Josh leading us on a brief nature and geology walk above ground. We headed out at 2:30 with everyone we came in with. No casualties were reported. Another successful CVille Grotto adventure!
