Is there an undiscovered, underground cavern near Pine Barren Creek in Wilcox County, Alabama?

Eastern Pipistrelle

Regular readers of this column know how much I enjoy hearing from readers. They always ask thoughtful questions and often provide interesting information. One such reader reached out to me this week with a fascinating, mysterious snippet of information that raises many more questions than it answers.

This loyal newspaper reader sent me a clipping from the March 5, 1890 edition of The Wilcox Progressive Era. That clipping read as follows: There is a place near Pine Barren Creek on the lower Snow Hill Road, about 10 miles from Camden, where many suppose there is a cave beneath the ground. The hoofs of horses, and even human footsteps, give forth a peculiar hollow sound, as though a cavern was underneath. As yet no opening has been found.

Again, this clipping raises many more questions than it answers. First off, how did the newspaper learn about this? Did someone or a number of people come by the newspaper office to report it? Did members of the newspaper staff go to the site and investigate it first hand?

Taking modern roads from Camden to Snow Hill, the most direct route is to travel east on State Highway 28 before getting on State Highway 21, which passes through Snow Hill. Less than half a mile north of the Highway 28-Highway 21 intersection, Highway 21 passes over Pine Barren Creek. This is about 14 miles from Camden, which is a little farther than the “about 10 miles” noted in the newspaper clipping.

My feeling is that the “lower Snow Hill Road” referenced in the newspaper clipping may no longer exist or may be called by another name. It would be interesting to know if anyone in the reading audience remembers where this road was located. Its location would help us identify the site of this suspected cave.

One is left to wonder if an entrance to this cave was ever found. Of course, it’s possible that the top of the cave eventually collapsed, and it’s also possible that the “cave” described was actually a developing sink hole. At some point in the past, this “cave” may have totally undermined a large section of the road.

According to the Alabama Cave Survey, there are more than 4,200 documented caves in Alabama. About two-thirds of the state’s caves are located in Northeast Alabama. Wilcox County is located in the state’s Coastal Plain, which contains the fewest number of caves in the state.

Perhaps the two best known caves in Wilcox County are Stone’s Cave and Mt. Moriah Cave, which have both been heavily studied by wildlife biologists and conservationists over the years because they are known to house different species of bats. Both of these caves shelter a type of bat called the Eastern Pipistrelle. Also known as the “tricolored bat,” these small bats are major carriers of rabies.

In the end, let me hear from you if you have any information you’d like to share about caves in Wilcox County, especially the suspected cave near Pine Barren Creek between Camden and Snow Hill, Mt. Moriah Cave and Stone’s Cave. Caves such as these are a natural wonder, and it’s important to document such things for the generations yet to come. Also, if you know of a good cave you’d like to show me, please let me know because I’m always up for a good field trip.

(Got a comment or question? E-mail Lee Peacock at leepeacock2002@hotmail.com.)