Cherney Maribel Caves County Park, Cave system in Manitowoc County, United States.
Cherney Maribel Caves County Park is a 75-acre county park near Maribel, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, holding eleven caves along a cliff line above the West Twin River. The caves lie in Niagara Dolomite on the Niagara Escarpment. Maribel New Hope Cave, the county's largest, has walking passages lit by electric floodlights and holds stalactites, stalagmites, helictites and cave bacon.
The caves were dissolved in Niagara Dolomite before the last ice age; glaciers later scraped the rock bare, and meltwater enlarged the passages before silt and gravel partly filled them. In 1892 caves were found on Henry A. Alrich's land, soon bought by Charles Steinbrecher, who built the Maribel Caves Hotel in 1900. Adolph Cherney bought the property in 1931 and sold the cave land to Manitowoc County on November 5, 1963, for $16,200, creating the county's first park.
The park's name comes from Adolph Cherney, who bought the property in 1931, and the nearby community of Maribel. Maribel New Hope Cave, the county's largest, is a public show cave lit by electric floodlights and open for tours on the third Sunday of each month from May through October. Members of the Wisconsin Speleological Society continue excavating and exploring the caves, and college instructors use Maribel New Hope Cave as a living laboratory.
Maribel New Hope Cave, the park's show cave, opens for public tours on the third Sunday of each month from May through October, 10 am to 3 pm. Maribel New Hope, Tartarus, Sinkhole and Split Rock caves are gated, so entry requires a guide. Aquadulce Cave sits near the top of the bluff and begins with an 8-foot pit to crawl into; Pancake Cave has no trail leading to it.
Maribel New Hope Cave remained unknown until 1984, even though the surrounding area had been explored for nearly a century beforehand. This late discovery of the largest cave at the site makes it one of the park's more recent major features.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,623 contributors worldwide.