Cave of the Mounds - Madison Wisconsin

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Just twenty miles west of Madison, Wisconsin, off U.S. Highways 18 and 151, between Mount Horeb and Blue Mounds, lies one of the Upper Midwest’s most spectacular natural wonders, the Cave of the Mounds. A “must see” for visitors to the area, the Cave has been host to millions of tourists and locals since it was opened to the public in 1940.

The Cave was originally discovered in 1939 during a limestone excavation, when workers dynamiting at the foot of the Eastern Mound blasted out giant chunks of the stone and uncovered the entrance to a huge underground tunnel opening into a cavern over 20 feet high. Numerous satellite tunnels were found branching off into other galleries.

Once news spread of the ancient discovery, the area was besieged by curiosity seekers and for the sake of safety and the preservation of the caverns, the Cave was closed off to the public until wooden walkways and proper lighting could be installed for easy touring and protection of the site.

Eventually, the wooden walkways were converted to concrete, the lighting modernized, and tours arranged.

The Cave of the Mounds remains a popular attraction more than six decades after it’s discovery. The Cave amazes visitors with brilliantly colored and unusually shaped stalagtites. The icy blues, bright oranges and dazzling whites are formed by a mixture of minerals formed by acidic waters leaching into the 400 million year old limestone rock.

Iron oxide and manganese oxide in the limestone walls create colorful vistas of blue, gray, red and brown. These colors are reflected throughout the satellite caves or “rooms”, inspiring such names as “the Gem Room”, “the Cathedral Room”, “the Painted Waterfall” and “the Dream River Room”.

The Cave Rooms meander for many hundreds of feet and there may yet be unexplored areas yet to be discovered.

The Cave of the Mounds is open to the public on weekends only during the winter months and daily the rest of the year: Spring, Summer and Fall.

For those of you pre-planning a trip to the area who would wish to include a tour of the Cave of the Mounds, information can be obtained by contacting:

Cave of the Mounds
Bringham Farm
P. O. Box 148
Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
Telephone: 608-437-3038
Email: info@caveofthemounds.com

An interesting phenomenon quick to come to the attention of Summertime visitors is the evenness of the temperature throughout the caves. In fact, the temperature remains at a constant 50 degrees F. day and night. Visitors in the Winter enjoy the comparative warmth of the caverns no matter how frigid the outdoors.

The Cave of the Mounds is situated in a park-like setting and visitors can enjoy the picnic grounds and wander about the colorful rock gardens during Spring, Summer and Fall.

Advance reservations for guided tours are accepted year-round and are available for groups of twenty or more only.

The National Park Service has designated the site a natural national landmark – declaring that the Cave of the Mounds possesses exceptional value as an illustration of the nation’s natural heritage and contributes to a better understanding of man’s environment. This designation protects the natural surroundings and the Caves themselves from any commercial encroachment for all time.