NINETEENTH CENTURY CAVE SPRING CAVE NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS
Contributed by Marion O. Smith

CAVE SPRING, FLOYD CO., (GA.)
September 18th, 1852.

But the magnet of the village is the much renowned "Cave Spring,” from which it derives
its euphonious and appropriate name. . . . On ascending a high and steep hill, when about
halfway from its base to its summit, an opening suddenly breaks upon you; it is the yawning
mouth through which you enter the Cave, and on looking down it appears like the crater, (on
a small scale, "“Ossa to a Wart") of a "volcano burnt out." You cannot well descend without
the aid of a light, although wooden steps have been erected within it; yet with all these
appliances you cannot effect the descent with safety, without striving to steady your feet by
grasping the rugged protuberances of the rock, and calling into vigorous action your organ of
caution. Without this care and prudence the curious explorer may practically realize the trite
truth, that "there is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous," by pitching, notwithstanding
the gravitating principle, from its scraggy top to its dark and slimy bottom. Within its gloomy
precincts, even with the aid of your candle, you have a dim twilight by which to feel or rather
grope you way about its slippery paths. It appeared to me as if our "flaming minister," (for I
explored it in company with Mr. T. of the Charleston Mercury,)' when within the damp
atmosphere of the vault, lost its power of radiation and would not diffuse its light, that our
prying eyes might peer into its various dark and cavernous chambers. In fact, a "candle" within
that Cave, will not sustain Shakspeare when he says, it "shines like a good deed in a naughty
world." But the mighty Minstrel of Avon wrote not especially for "these diggins."

Within the cavern are large and rugged masses of rock, jutting out in all directions,
pendant from its ponderous ceiling, various and grotesque in shape and dimensions. On one side
of you may be seen columns round and smooth as if the work of art, and placed as if really
intended to support the superincumbent weight above. In another place, I noticed what has all
the appearance of a massive marble mantle, moulded or cut into graceful folds of classic drapery
by the chisel of the sculptor; or as if nature in an ambitious mood, had designed to display her
power by a rude specimen of colossal sculpture.

But the great curiosity of "the Cave" is the stream that flows through it, and gushes
through its rocky side a never failing volume of water, cool and transparent. ... The only
sound that breaks the "solemn stillness" of the cavern, save your own footfall, is the soft
murmur of the meandering streamlet.

Charleston Courier, September 25, 1852.

1. William Robinson Taber, Jr. (1828-1856), a lawyer as well as the junior editor and proprietor of the
Charleston Mercury, was killed in a duel with Edward Magrath. National Union Catalog, Vol. 581, p. 31;
Charleston City and General Business Directory (1855), 38, 103; Charleston Courier, September 30, 1856.

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Cave Spring, Ga.

This is a place of much attraction about sixteen miles southwest of Rome, in Floyd
county. The spring issues in a bold, clear stream from fissures in the limestone rock at the foot
of a high hill or small mountain. The water is quite cold and agreeable to drink, though slightly
impregnated with lime. It makes a very pretty and refreshing-looking creek of considerable size,
as it runs through the village.

About half-way up the hill, and directly above the spring, is the mouth of the cave. The
opening, which is through limestone rock, is small, and the passage, though winding, is all the
way downward, so that at the bottom of the cave, where first reached, you are almost
immediately under the mouth. Ladders or steps have in two places been constructed to aid in
the descent; in other places steps have been cut in the winding and sloping sides, making the
descent easy and safe. The depth is said to be one hundred feet. The cavity, when the bottom
is reached, runs upon a nearly level plane to the distance of perhaps forty or fifty feet, with a
high but narrow and irregular roof, and then contracts into a low and close passage, at the end
of which is a spring that finds its way out through fissures, and probably connects with the creek
running from the large spring. There is another opening of the cave (not used in entering it)
above and nearly in a line with the place where it contracts into the low passage, and from this
opening a ray of light is cast into this part of the cave, so that it is not dark enough to require
artificial light in exploring it until the low passage is reached. The temperature in the cave is
cool, and we fancy that it would be a delightful place in which to take an afternoon nap during
such warm days as we have had recently.

| Macon Georgia Weekly Telegraph, September 17, 1869.

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