Tucked away among the hills and valleys in and near the Shenandoah National Park and the Great Valley of Virginia, is Front Royal, originality called LeHewtown, after Peter LeHew, a French Huguenot who purchased 200 acres here in 1758, it was later incorporated as Front Royal November 15, 1788.
We wanted to drive the Skyline drive and see some of the Shenandoah National Park. Skyline drive is a 105-mile road, that has 75 overlooks providing spectacular views of the Shenandoah Valley, this road runs the entire length of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Pierre and I took a couple of days to see some of the local attractions, one that intrigued me was Skyline Caverns. The caverns were discovered by Walter S. Amos, in December 1937, he was a retired geologist and mineralogist from Winchester Va. and the caverns are estimated to be approximately 50 to 60 million years old! I have never been underground in a cavern so I was apprehensive.. to say the least...when I was scuba diving I did one cave dive and I was not impressed... when we got there, we were the only ones for the next hour tour, so we has the guide to ourselves and our guide was fabulous, impressive and educational. She was real good with me, because I was feeling a bit panicky...but once we started on the tour I calmed down and became fascinated with the whole experience! It stays a a balmy 58 degrees all the time in the caverns, regardless of the weather above...so I had to wear a jacket! There were stalagmites, these are formed on the ground and they might reach the top....stalactites, these are form from the top and stay tight on the ceiling...get it? But of course, the highlight of these caverns is the Anthodites, Anthodites are an unusual form of six-sided crystalline structures made of pure calcite. They were beautiful, and Skyline Caverns is one of the few places in the world where this type of formation can be seen.
Whether it's your first time underground, like me or you're an expert, these caverns are a must see..if you are up in this area!
Because we had so much fun in Skyline Caverns we decided to do the Luray Caverns also, they are located in Luray Virginia, About an hour drive. I felt comfortable that I could do these caverns too! Luray Caverns were first discovered in 1878 and these caverns were a lot different than the Skyline Caverns in that the walkway was quite large and I thought that took away some of the natural feel, and there were so many people, we were in a group of about 50 people, so I couldn’t hear a word our guide said, but that’s ok, the caverns were breathtaking and wonderful, the amount of stalagmites and stalactites were incredible, and when you think of the time it takes for these form its mind blowing....Skyline Caverns were cold, but these we warmer and I didn’t even need a jacket!
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