With over seven THOUSAND recorded caves, it’s no wonder they call Missouri the “Cave State.”
Fantastic Caverns runs a robust marketing campaign and paired with the fact that they’re a “Drive Thru Cave,” they’re easily one of Springfield’s top tourist attractions.
Smallin Civil War Cave feels very distinct from every other cave I went in and mostly for two reasons: 1) As the name suggests, the major attraction of this cave is its history. It’s not just a regular cave, it’s a Civil War cave. 2) The cave opening at Smallin is extremely large and dramatic and because the tour only goes about 500 feet back into the cave, you’re never in complete darkness.
The cave was originally opened for tours in 1894 and in the 1960s the cave’s new (and current) owners, the Herschend family, opened up their 1880s Ozark Mountain Village themed Silver Dollar City right over the top of the entrance to Marvel Cave.
Lost Canyon Cave is what folks in the cave business like to call a designed cave. It is a naturally occurring cave, but it’s been enhanced quite a bit to add a lot more show elements.
Like Marvel Cave, Talking Rocks Cavern is a vertical cave, meaning you enter it from the top and it manages to feel both wildly dramatic and very detailed.