Hidden Beauty

I did something this past Saturday that I hadn't done in 44 years.  (Imagine that...a woman giving indication of her age!).  I visited Luray Caverns in western Virginia with a good friend.  While I remembered being intrigued by the caverns even as a young child all those years ago, I decided that perhaps I couldn't quite understand the true beauty of this natural setting at that young age.  In fact, what I saw was quite spectacular.



That's some great looking limestone behind me.


When I visit my favorite exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History Museum, I am always awed by the fact that so many rocks look like roundish, gray, uninteresting...well...rocks.  That is, until they are cut open to reveal the wonders of beautiful agates, quartz and many more varieties.

That is the same feeling I had when I visited Luray's caverns.  To think, just a few dozen feet above, the countryside looks like anyplace else where there are rolling hills covered by trees and perhaps some farmland.  Maybe even a few homes dot the covering scenery.  But just under the surface, the limestone filling the earth has opened chambers and passageways and with the help of rainwater seeping through, formed stalactites draping themselves down from above.  In fact, in some areas, these stalactites are even referred to as drapes.



Notice the texture in these drapes.  They look, even on close view, almost like hardened fabric.  Yet they are rock formations in all different shades due to varying degrees of calcium and other mineral elements that make them up. 



The stalactites, over thousands, even millions, of years drop moisture onto the ground, just as a melting icicle does on the side of a building, and stalagmites grow from the sediment that forms.  In the end, what is created is a glorious, natural wonder where even the small lake is so clear that it mirrors the beauty above it so much that it's difficult to know that there is water there at all.

This is an accurate depiction of Dream Lake, the largest body of water in Luray Caverns.  At its deepest, it is only about 20 inches. 

Andrew Campbell, William Campbell, and Benton Stebbins discovered this natural wonder because cold air came blowing out of a sinkhole in 1878.  They quickly began digging and, within four hours, found more than their imagination could have conjured up.  Within only a few months time, they began offering the first tours of the location, which is still the largest series of discovered caverns in the eastern part of the United States.  Today, the walk through these caverns, about 75% of which is now open to the public, covers about a mile and a quarter.

Just imagine how many more things are yet to be discovered in this beautiful world God created.  The possibilities are truly limitless.


Enjoy one more view of this amazing wonder of nature.  Put this on your tour list.  It's worth it!