Tory cave, Marble cave in New Milford, Connecticut.
Tory Cave is a marble solutional cave near the Housatonic River with a main chamber that holds roughly twenty-four people at once. The cave features natural passages formed by water filtering through the marble bedrock over thousands of years.
A British loyalist used this cave as a hiding place during the American Revolution to escape detection by revolutionary forces. The shelter role it played during that conflict left a lasting mark on the site's name and local memory.
The name comes from the colonial period when people loyal to the British Crown sought shelter and safety during the American Revolution. This linguistic memory shows how geography and politics were intertwined in early American history.
The cave is closed to public access due to conservation work protecting the bat populations living there. Visitors can explore the surrounding area and view the site from a distance to appreciate the natural landscape near the river.
The cave is home to specialized organisms like the blind shrimp-like amphipod Stygobromus and populations of pale cave crickets. These creatures have adapted to complete darkness and exist nowhere else in nature, making the cave a rare ecological refuge.
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