54 
THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
An Interesting Cave. 
Allens Creek, Tennessee. 
To the Editor : 
I submit a photograph of a cave situ- 
ated on the beautiful forty-eight mile 
creek in the northern part of Wayne 
County, Tennessee. It is about five hun- 
dred feet long, forty feet wide, thirty 
feet high and is in the form of an elbow. 
A stream of cold, clear water flows 
through the center. It was formed by 
the water of a mountain stream cutting 
skylight some thirty feet square. It is 
shown in the photograph. At this point 
the cave makes the turn or elbow. At 
the back of this natural stage with its 
stone stand are tw’o tunnels by which the 
performers might enter without passing 
through the audience. Five thousand 
people could be comfortably seated here 
and all be within range of a moderately 
loud voice. 
Here for a thousand generations or 
more, the noble red man held his court 
A WONDERFUL CAVE IN TENNESSEE. 
its way through a ridge. In some re- 
spects it is one of the most wonderful 
caves in existence. Here the mighty 
hand of nature has surpassed the efforts 
of the architects of the world, and has 
designed one of the grandest auditoriums 
ever beheld by man. 
On each side are narrow passageways, 
back of which begin a series of seats ar- 
ranged in tiers of ten in front of the nat- 
ural stage and eight on the right and the 
left. These seats are in regular order 
and well adapted for comfortable sitting. 
They were carved by the water out of 
the solid limestone. Back of these tiers 
at the top are broad galleries running the 
full length of the cavern. Just over the 
center where the stage is located is a 
and danced the war dance or smoked 
the pipe of peace. Here, when he swept 
down from the north with his mighty 
hordes of warriors, he found the peaceful 
mound builders. It is only a few yards 
from this cave to the partly closed en- 
trance of another, far back in which are 
inscriptions and hieroglyphics that no 
scholar of modern times can translate. 
At the mouth of this cave the' beautiful 
forty-eight mile creek flows clear and 
sparkling and abounds with fish, includ- 
ing the famous blue trout and black bass. 
Many legends are connected with this 
cave. To it they add much interest and 
recall to mind the picture of the past with 
its joy and sorrows. 
Lovic Meredith. 
