Greenbrier, Monroe and Pocahontas counties sit on some of the most significant karst in the eastern United States, with cave systems running to dozens of mapped miles each. The West Virginia Association for Cave Studies is the major exploration, mapping and scientific organization; its members have contributed to mapping hundreds of miles of West Virginia cave passage.
Greenbrier County sits on hundreds of mapped miles of cave, most of which requires grotto affiliation to enter. The restrictions exist because the caves sit on private land and host protected bat populations.
Some of the most significant karst in the eastern United States, with individual systems running past forty miles of surveyed passage.
Lost World Caverns near Lewisburg. A stairway into one enormous chamber holding a 28-foot stalactite, with wild-cave tours available if the walking tour leaves you wanting more.
Full guide to Lost World Caverns →Organ Cave. More than forty miles of mapped passage and over thirty original Civil War saltpeter hoppers still standing underground.
Full guide to Organ Cave →Systems like Friars Hole, through a National Speleological Society grotto. Mountain State, Monongahela and Tri-State all run trips and take beginners.
Full guide to Friars Hole Cave System →There is no general right of entry to West Virginia caves. Most significant systems are gated, privately owned or under conservancy control. Showing up at a known entrance without permission is how caves get closed permanently.
A commercial show cave outside Lewisburg, entered by a long stairway into a single enormous chamber holding the 28-foot Snowy Chandelier stalactite.
One of the longest caves in the United States, with more than forty miles of mapped passage, and a national historic landmark for its Civil War saltpeter mining works — over thirty original hoppers survive underground.
Among the longest cave systems in the United States, with more than forty-five miles of surveyed passage under Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties.
A steep, narrow limestone canyon where the South Branch of the Potomac cuts through Cave Mountain — excellent smallmouth fishing, quiet canoe water at the right levels, dispersed camping, caves in the walls and a nineteenth-century chapel at the upper end.
A stream cave where Gandy Creek runs underground for roughly three-quarters of a mile through a walkable passage — one of the few caves in the East traditionally crossed on foot end to end.
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Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.
