12/25/2021
Dunbar Cave State Natural Area has seen it all during more than 1,000 years of evolution. In pre-historic days, sometime around 1260 CE, people left proof of their presence by inscribing art on the walls of the eight-foot-long cave.
Fast forward to 1948, and the cave was purchased for $150,000 by country music star Roy Acuff and transformed into something akin to a pleasure palace. This was the era of big bands, square dances, and radio shows–all of which unfolded within the naturally air-conditioned entrance of the cave.
As a visitor to Clarksville, your experience could not possibly be different from the extravaganzas of the 1950s. Go on a ranger-guided tour of the cave, which was taken over and restored as a state natural area in 1973. In some ways, life is still pretty wild around here but that's because of all the wildlife that has come back: turkeys, woodpeckers, and swans.