Notable formations within the cave include the Liberty Bell stalagmite, the Sentinel column, and Blondie’s Throne. The cave is also home to the Gulf of Doom pit, the Harold Bell Wright and Mud Passages, and the Elves Chamber, which marks the cave’s exit. Other rooms in the cave include the Spring Room, which features waterfalls and orange calcite deposits, the Cloud Room, which showcases a dolomite ceiling, the Mystic River Passage and Mystic Pool Room, and the Waterfall Room, the cave’s lowest room which receives water from the Lost River. Past the Mammoth Room, a Lakes Passage showcases Genevieve and Miriam Lakes, while a Serpentine Passage connects to the Egyptian Room, which was mined for its limestone ceiling in the late 19th century. The cave’s Dungeon passage leads to its Mammoth Room, which is home to sizeable populations of Eastern Pipistrelle, little brown, and big brown bats. Notable features within the cave include the Cathedral Room, one of the largest entrance rooms of any cave in North America, which measures 411 feet long by 225 feet wide and is accessible via a 94-foot sinkhole. The cave is operated daily between mid-March and January and is available for tours only with paying Silver Dollar City ticket or season pass admission. It is one of the state of Missouri’s largest caves and one of the Ozark Mountain region’s longest-running public tourist attractions, offering daily guided public tours. Today, Marvel Cave is operated by Herschend Family Entertainment as part of the Silver Dollar City amusement park. In 1972, following Genevieve Lynch’s death, the cave was bequeathed to the First Presbyterian Church of Branson and the College of the Ozarks, though it continued to operate under the supervision of the Herschend family. Throughout the next few years, the Herschend family recreated the nearby Marmaros mining village on top of the cave’s surface and opened it as the Silver Dollar City public attraction. In 1950, the cave was purchased by Hugo Herschend, whose wife and sons took over daily tourist operations following his death in 1955. Following Lynch’s death in 1927, the cave’s name was changed to Marvel Cave. That year, the square mile of land surrounding the cave was purchased by William Henry Lynch, who converted the cave into a show cave tourist attraction. During mining operations, the town of Marmaros sprung up around the cave, though it was destroyed by fire in 1889. Mining operations were temporarily set up in 1884 by the Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company, which mined the cave’s limestone until 1889. Though the supposed marble deposits turned out to be limestone, the expedition earned the cave the name Marble Cave. Blow, who believed that the cave’s Shoe Room ceiling contained marble. The first known expedition setting out to purposefully explore the cave was embarked on in 1869 by mining magnate Henry T. Following the expedition, the cave remained unoccupied until the mid-19th century, when a group of vigilantes known as the Bald Knobbers were said to have used it to dispose of their victims’ bodies, though this claim has been disputed by local historians. The hunting group named the cave Devil’s Den for its population of bats and its high temperatures. Human discovery of the cave dates back to the 16th century, when, according to legend, a group of local Osage indigenous people in pursuit of black bears fell through a sinkhole into what is now referred to as the cave’s Cathedral Room. Marvel Cave is located on top of Rock Mountain in Stone County, near the city of Branson, Missouri. Located near Branson, Missouri on Rock Mountain, Marvel Cave is a public show cave and National Natural Landmark, operated as part of the Silver Dollar City amusement park. Today, they are enjoyed by thousands of visitors for their unsurpassed natural beauty and fascinating geological formations thousands of years old. They were used as speakeasies during the Prohibition, which is true for Fantastic Cavern, and have served as sources of minerals. The caves have been used historically by the native peoples as homes and sanctuaries, and later as hiding places for outlaws such as Meramec Cavern. Riverbluff Cave, Photo: Courtesy of macropixel.Ozark Caverns, Photo: Courtesy of tempus_fugit1980.Onondaga Cave State Park, Photo: Courtesy of macropixel.Meramec State Park and Fisher Cave, Photo: Meramec State Park and Fisher Cave.Mark Twain Cave, Photo: Courtesy of Bryan.Fantastic Caverns, Photo: Fantastic Caverns.Devils Well, Photo: Courtesy of pramot48. Meramec Caverns, Photo: Meramec Caverns.Bridal Cave, Photo: Courtesy of macropixel.Bluff Dweller's Cave, Photo: Bluff Dweller's Cave.
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