Lost Sea

Craighead Caverns

Useful Information

Location:	140 Lost Sea Road, Sweetwater, TN 37874. Between Sweetwater and Madisonville on Hwy 68. Interstate 75, 64 km south of Knoxville. (35.535657, -84.431112)
Open:	JAN to FEB daily 9-17. MAR to APR daily 9-18. MAY to JUN daily 9-19. JUL daily 9-20. AUG daily 9-19. SEP to OCT daily 9-18. NOV to DEC daily 9-17. Closed Thanksgiving Day, 25-DEC. [2023]
Fee:	Adults USD 24.95, Children (4-12) USD 14.95, Children (0-3) free. Groups (15+): Adults USD 15.95, Children (5-12) USD 7. [2023]
Classification:	Karst Cave river cave.
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	Lake: L=250 m, W=67 m, Ar=16,000 m².
Guided tours:	L=1200 m, D=75 min, T=14,5 °C. V=150,000/a [2006].
Photography:	not allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Lost Sea, 140 Lost Sea Road, Sweetwater, TN 37874, Tel. +1-423-337-6616.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

	Natural entrance discovered by the Indian Chief Craighead, known as Craighead Caverns.
1820’s	rediscovered by the first white settlers.
1861-1865	during Civil War used to mine saltpeter for gunpowder.
1905	first exploration by 13-year-old Ben Sands, lake discovered.
1915	dance floor installed in one of the large upper rooms.
1927	artificial entrance build, but not opened to the public because of difficulty of access.
1939	remains of a 20,000 years old jaguar discovered.
1940	cave used as mushroom farm.
1947	Cavern Tavern created.
1963	cave reopened as Lost Sea show cave.

Description

The name of the Lost Sea or Lost Cave Adventure is derived from the most impressing feature of the cave, an underground lake of 1.6 ha and between 10 and 30 m deep. It is the largest underground lake in the U.S.A. and the second largest in the world. It was the world’s largest underground lake until Dragon’s Breath Cave was discovered in Namibia, Africa, several years ago. The tour includes a ride on the lake in a glass bottom boat, where one can see that the lake is stocked with rainbow trout.

The lake was discovered in 1905 by a 13-year-old boy, Ben Sands. He crawled through a muddy hole deep inside the cave and found water. He threw balls of dirt into the darkness to determine how big it was, but no matter how hard he threw, all he heard was the plop of mud into water.

The tour also shows the remains of the early salpeter workings, where salpeter for gunpowder was manufactured during the Civil War. The mushroom farm and the dance floor are visited, also a display of anthodite flowers. The cave also served as refrigerator, moonshine operation, meeting room, and tavern, but these operations left no visible tracks.

In 1939 explorers discovered the 25,000-year-old skeleton and tracks of a jaguar in the cave. The findings and plaster molds of the tracks are on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.