Verona Surface Dig - 11/30/2025

Casey Tucker Reporting

7 of us convened in Verona on November 30 th for a surface dig. Our hope was to dig into a pile of rocks and discover a cave entrance beneath. The landowner reported another vertical entrance 100 yards away that had been filled in. The area is near the contact of sandstone cap over underlaying limestone, and other caves are reported nearby.

The group started digging around 10:30, putting in test holes and finding out what lay beneath. Meanwhile Scott W. and I went to check a few gopher holes for air, to see if they were perhaps more than just gopher holes. The temperature was upper 30, so air would be moving. None of the depressions and holes had any air movement, and we concluded they were nothing more than animal dens.

Back at the dig site, expectations were low. We continued digging around the rock site reaching packed soil or bedrock everywhere we tried. We moved a lot of rock and decided there probably wasn’t much to find. This pile was likely just a pile of rocks accumulated by the previous farmer.

We walked the lower end of the property and the creek with some beautiful limestone outcrops for any last hopes. Nothing great found, we departed for lunch at Los Marquez in Staunton. The landowner spent some more time moving rocks after we departed, but reported nothing but rock and soil. Alas, we gave it a good effort.

In attendance: Scott W., Josh, Elise, Tom, Casey(reporting), Scott B, Erin, and Jacob