The entrance is the thing. Cathedral Caverns opens through a mouth roughly 25 feet high and 128 feet wide, which is routinely described as one of the widest commercial cave entrances anywhere, and you walk in through it rather than down a shaft or a stairwell. The cave was known as Bats Cave before it was developed as an attraction in the 1950s.
Inside is a stalagmite forest covering around three acres, which is the reason for the name: a floor of columns rising out of the dark in loose ranks. The public route runs about 3,500 feet along eight-foot-wide concrete walkway that is wheelchair accessible for its whole length, with roughly two miles of path in total. Another 2,700 feet continue beyond the end of the developed trail, and about 11,000 feet have been surveyed altogether, with everything past the walkway restricted to experienced cavers.
The cave made a great many world record claims during its commercial heyday, and the accuracy of most of them has since been disputed, which is worth knowing before you read the older signage. The genuinely striking feature stands on its own: Goliath, a column over 45 feet tall and 243 feet in circumference.
It sits in Kennamer Cove in Marshall County, Alabama, about five miles northeast of Grant, in 493 acres of public recreation area and natural history preserve. It was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1972 and became a state park in 2000.
Tours are guided and take around an hour and a half.
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
