Back in 1879, two young boys playing in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley discovered something that would soon become one of the most popular travel destinations in the eastern United States.
According to published accounts, the boys were chasing a rabbit up a slope at Reuben Zirkle’s farm, which they lost in a pile of rocks. As they moved the rocks around, trying to find the rabbit’s hiding place, they felt a surge of cold air come up out of the ground. They discovered the entrance to a massive cave.
“The boys went for ropes and candles and exciting explorations began,” the Waynesboro News-Virginian wrote in an April 25, 1991 report. “A marvelous underground world was seen for the first time by human eyes. Though exploration was carried on for years, no end was ever found to the series of winding channels and vast rooms. So the underground kingdom was named Endless Caverns and bears that title today.
In 1919, Col. Edward T. Brown, deputy director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, purchased the property and the cave and turned into a tourist attraction called Endless Caverns, complete with cabins made from locally sourced limestone. It quickly became a popular destination attracting thousands of visitors.
“Endless Caverns was roaring in the 20s,” said Michael Stewart, general manager of Endless Caverns RV Resort & Cavern Tours in New Market, Virginia. “It was kind of the place to go before the interstates went through. There are pictures of model As and Ts waiting to get into the caverns.”
Virginia, of course, has no shortage of caves — more than 4,000 of them, according to recent counts. Caving is such a popular activity that many cities and towns have their own caving clubs and organize tours of caves near their communities. But Endless Caverns continues to draw visitors from Virginia and across the Eastern states because of the beauty and depths of its caverns, six miles of which have been mapped so far.
“It’s a huge cave and our exploration and mapping work continue,” Stewart said, adding, “We’re still finding new spots.”
Meanwhile, as a camping and RV resort destination, Endless Caverns, which is owned by Ocean City, Maryland-based Blue Water Development Company, has continued to make improvements to provide its guests with an exceptional camping experience. While the resort still has many of the original historic buildings from the 1920s, some of which were made using limestone rock, the resort also features nearly 150 RV sites and 20 luxurious cabins.
“We’re a resort sitting on top of a cavern system,” Stewart explained, adding that the resort offers cavern tours that lead visitors about a mile into the cave, which has so many interesting, natural colors that no colored lights are used to illuminate the caverns.
“The cave is alive and it’s still growing,” Stewart explained. “When it rains, the water moves through the mountain, enhancing the cave’s natural formations.” Stewart said park staff escort guests to their campsite or cabin when they arrive. “We talk about the area, inform them about what’s going on at the campground and then let them go and do their thing,” he said.
Endless Caverns has large, full-hookup sites that are big enough to accommodate a motorhome towing a car.
While Memorial Day to Labor Day is a busy period at the park, the busiest time of year is actually the fall when because of the beautiful variety and intensity of fall colors that are visible across the Shenandoah Valley, with many visitors wanting to drive sections of the famed Blue Ridge Parkway, which is 40 minutes away.
Endless Caverns has large, full-hookup sites that are big enough to accommodate a motorhome towing a car. The resort also features 20 two-bedroom cabins with full bathrooms, kitchenettes, wi-fi, and screened-in porches – perfect for guests without an RV to enjoy the adventure.
Park amenities include swimming pools, pickleball courts, a disc golf course and 2.5 miles of hiking trails. The resort also has a stocked fishing pond with bass, perch and bluegill. “It’s catch and release,” Stewart said, adding that no fishing permits are required of campers because the resort sits on private property.
“One of the most popular things people do is watch the sunsets. The mountain we sit on looks west,” Stewart said. “People can do as much or as little as they want,” Stewart said. “About three quarters of our guests do the cave tour. But we also have a lot of people coming and going on a weekly basis. We have a lot of people that spend three, four or five days at a time here. We’re like a national park with all the hookups.”
