Cass Cave

Cass Cave
The Big Room
LocationPocahontas County, West Virginia, United States
LightingNone
VisitorsClosed to the public

Cass Cave is a cave located in Cass, West Virginia,[1] on Cheat Mountain. One of the rooms in the cave (the "Big Room") is 800 ft (240 m) long, 180 ft (55 m) high and 75 ft (23 m) wide.[2] Cass Cave has the highest subterranean waterfall in West Virginia and Virginia, Lacy Suicide Falls, with a height of 139 ft (42 m). The waterfall was misnamed, as while a suicide did occur in the cave, it was at a small drop near the entrance. The cave is not open to the general public.[3]

The June 1964 Issue of National Geographic featured a two-page fold-out color photograph by Huntley Ingalls of a caver climbing a wire ladder adjacent to the waterfall.[4] The photo was illuminated by a series of #2 Press photo flashbulbs laid over an aluminum foil reflector spread on the slope below.

  1. ^ Bulletin of the National Speleological Society. National Speleological Society. 1966.
  2. ^ John Hodel (30 Jun 1963). "Features of Cass Cave". Beckley Post-Herald. Beckley, West Virginia. p. 17. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Kevin Adams (1 June 2002). Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia: A Hiking and Photography Guide. Menasha Ridge Press. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-0-89732-414-4.
  4. ^ "WV Tourist Interest Is On Increase". Cumberland Evening Times. Cumberland, Maryland. 17 August 1964. p. 7. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.