Draft:Bristol Caverns
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Submission declined on 11 September 2025 by Phuzion (talk).
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Comment: Inadequate sourcing to demonstrate notability. Phuzion (talk) 19:16, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Clayman8392 (talk) 00:43, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
Bristol Caverns is a show cave (also called sacrificial caves) in Bristol, TN. It is a karst cave. The caverns have been owned by several people/companies since their discovery, and have been a show cave since the mid-1900s.[1]
History
[edit]The exact date of Bristol Caverns' discovery is unknown, as the natural entrance to the cave has been accessible for an unspecified period. However, the current commercial entrance was dug out by a farmer named samual sesler in 1863, with the intention of using the cave as a root cellar. This was a fairly common practice for the time. Samual Sesler and his family used the cave until it was sold sometime in the 1920s. During the 1930s and 1940s, construction was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the TVA. The construction was completed in 1944, and the cave was opened to tours in the same year. In 1981, the cave was sold to the Barnett brothers, who ran the cave until 2024, when it was sold again.[2]
The known owners of the cave are: Samual Sesler(1863), Josh Phips(1930s), Mr.Hit(late 30s, early 40s, opened the cave), John Combs and Charles Lowery, Mench Corporation (1963, tax write-off), Henry and Albert Hatcher (1965), the Barnetts (1981), new ownership as of (2024).[3]
Bristol Caverns was called Bishop Cave until the 1940s.[4] There are also stories of native americans using the cave; however, there is no record or proof of this.[5][6]
Topography and Formations
[edit]The deepest part of Bristol Caverns is 120ft; the cave itself is roughly 3/5ths of a mile long. Within 1 mile of the cave, over 50 sinkholes indicate collapsed voids that were never part of the Bristol Caverns system. This type of landscape is so common in places with limestone that it was given the name karst topography.
Bristol Caverns has several entrances, two that can be accessed by people, two that are completely underwater (allowing animals to get in and out), and 2 that are gated, one of the gated being the original entrance.
There are many formations in Bristol Caverns:
- Flowstone
- Draperies
- Dripstone
- Cave coralloids
- Cave popcorn
- Cave coral
- Rimstone
- Cave pearls
Becaus of the vertical orientation of bedding planes, water can permeate through the rock much faster and more consistently than if they were horizontal. becaus of this, there are many more formations; they also tend to form in long lines. becaus of the orientation of the bedding plains, the cave itself is much taller in its individual rooms than normal, and many of the walls are nearly perfectly flat, allowing you to see joints. In some parts of the cave, there are massive formations many times the height of the average person.
Cave Fauna
[edit]
There are many animals in Bristol Caverns, such as bats, salamanders, fresh water skulpen, crawfish, cave crickets, and branchiobdellida[7]
- There are Tricolored bats in Bristol Caverns
- near the entrance you can find cave crickets
- In the river that runs through the bottom of the cavern are cottus (fish), also called freshwater sculpin, and crayfish
- species of salamander in Bristol Caverns:
- Branchiobdellida live in the cave, or more specifically, on the crayfish
No animals found in Bristol Caverns are blind, as everything can exit the cave if desired. To date, no fossils have been found in Bristol Caverns; however, many bones of bats and a few deer bones have been discovered.
Gallery
[edit]Formations
[edit]-
Large dripstone with caver for scale. -
A rimstone with odd color -
Cave column "Gigantis" with caver for scale -
A close up of a soda straw stalactite -
Rimstone pool with subaques coralloids and aragonite -
Pool spar with 10cm scale -
Cave Bacon with sawtooth patern. (10cm scale) -
Very active formation about the size of a basketball -
Calcite pool spar with headlight for scale -
Conulite in Bristol Caverns (glove for scale)
Fauna
[edit]-
cave salamander with 10cm scale -
Spring salamander with 10cm scale -
Northern slimy salamander -
Sculpen -
Tricolor bat in cave -
Green crawfish in Bristol Caverns -
Spring salamander in Bristol Caverns, it is about the length of a hand
Bones
[edit]-
Deer bones (likly fib-tib) with makeshift 10cm scale -
Bat bones under 365nm UV -
Finger bone of a bat (likly distal finger) with a 1cm scale
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_with_a_1cm_scale.jpg)
References
[edit]- ^ Explore Bristol Caverns!. Bristol Caverns. (2025, August 12). https://bristolcaverns.com/
- ^ Bristol Caverns offers eons of entertainment for adventurers. (n.d.-a). https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/celebrating-70-years/bristol-caverns-offers-eons-of-entertainment-for-adventurers/
- ^ Tennis, J. (2021, September 28). Bristol Caverns up for sale as longtime owner plans retirement. The Bristol Herald Courier. https://heraldcourier.com/news/local/bristol-caverns-up-for-sale-as-longtime-owner-plans-retirement/article_85030324-aa87-571b-a42a-7650a214bd9b.html
- ^ Show caves of the United States of America: Bristol Caverns. Show Caves of the World. (n.d.). https://www.showcaves.com/english/usa/showcaves/Bristol.html
- ^ Stone, George, and Sonya A. Haskins. Image of [Image Description]. Bristol (TN) (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, 2005, p
- ^ Fleming, S. (2025a, July 30). Bristol Caverns: Into the depths beneath Sullivan County. Northeast Tennessee. https://northeasttennessee.org/bristol-caverns-into-the-depths-beneath-sullivan-county/
- ^ Holt, Perry C.. 1973. Branchiobdellids (Annelida: Clitellata) from some eastern North American caves, with descriptions of new species of the genus Cambarincola. International Journal of Speleology, 5: 219-255. Available at: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol5/iss3/3
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