DeSoto Caverns, Show cave in Childersburg, Alabama, United States.
DeSoto Caverns is a show cave in Childersburg, Alabama, featuring a central chamber that rises over ten stories high with extensive marble and onyx formations throughout. The cave displays layered stone deposits and mineral formations that create different rooms and passages within the underground space.
The site served as a burial ground for Native Americans before the Civil War, when Confederate soldiers mined saltpeter from its passages for gunpowder production. These earlier uses left marks on the cave's history before it became a tourist destination.
Benjamin Hawkins documented this location during George Washington's presidency, making it the first officially recorded cave in the United States.
Visitors should wear sturdy shoes suitable for uneven and sometimes narrow cave passages. Bringing warm clothing is advisable since underground temperatures remain cool throughout the year.
During Prohibition the cave operated as an underground bar where midnight conflicts earned it the name 'Bloody Bucket'. This bootleg chapter reveals a lesser-explored side of the site's past.
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