Visit The Bristol Caverns and Walk Through A Few Millennia

By Kelsey Corley

Follow a winding, country road back past downtown Bristol, past small fields and rusty gas stations, and you’ll happen upon a local shop. Wander in, buy a ticket, and make some small talk while you wait. You’ll follow someone through a short patch of woods and around a hill to a large, gaping doorway. The outside is man-made and built of brick, the stone having been blasted through in order to create a gateway into the hidden world underneath the great Appalachian Mountains.  

There are many caves that dwell inside these mountains, but few are as famous or as well-traveled as the Bristol Caverns, or Bishop’s Cave, as they are sometimes referred to. The caverns have always been a local marvel. As you travel through the woods, you may see a few small openings into the cave, some natural entrances that had been used by the people of Bristol long before the development of the caverns, indeed long before there was a Bristol itself. The modern entrance and exit that tours use was carved out and built by Samuel Sesler to use as a cellar for storing summer crops, it was the first piece of development that the caverns would undergo. 

Image Credits: Kelsey Corley

The caves were carved and crafted by an ancient river that ran over the solid rock that had been pushed up from the formation of Appalachia. Perfected over millennia, the caverns are still changing to this day, constantly shaped by the water that still runs through them. Descending into the cave at first, you walk into a chamber filled with small pillars and then one immense column toppled over onto the floor, the result of a shattering earthquake from a couple of million years ago. You’ll continue deeper and deeper, and then back up again following along the staircases built into the rock, as the ever-changing landscape of the caverns unfolds before you. The pale orange lights mounted to the walls glow eerily against the wet stones, illuminating your path. The creek can be heard at some of the lowest points in the cave, moving slowly, ever slicing deeper through the sedimentary. Everywhere you turn, layers and layers of built-up rock tell of centuries long past. You are not where you are; not where you came from.  

You are walking through history. Or very possibly a Tolkien novel. While it is easy to be captivated by the dazzling stalactites and stalagmites that litter the various chambers, your guide may point out other amusing and often beautiful shapes throughout the cave that one might otherwise overlook. A tiny rock, pushing out of the cave wall may well be mistaken as a shrunken bust of the late President Lincoln. Up towards the ceiling of one chamber, a different kind of rock mixed with the sedimentary causing a unique erosion pattern which our guide endearingly referred to as Dorito world. 

The Bristol Caverns are a local wonder and will be a warm refuge this coming winter.  It is a family-owned business that’s open every day except for major holidays. Located off of Bristol Caverns Highway, the site is just a few minutes away from campus. Whether you’re a nature-loving adventurer eager to find your next hike or just someone who’d like to get out of the stuffy dorms of Liston hall for a bit this fall, you’re sure to enjoy the experience. So whenever you find the time, go and see the wondrous and truly majestic Bristol Caverns, it’s a trip you won’t regret.