Delaware's only cave is a small wonder in itself, just 56 feet long

Ken Mammarella
Special to Delaware News Journal

It’s been called Indian Cave, Beaver Valley Rock Shelter, Wolf Rock Cave and the model for the cave in the movie “Dead Poets Society,” but its consistent designation – and claim to fame – is Delaware’s only cave.

Befitting the second-smallest state, it’s a small wonder: just 56 feet long, with a roof that drops quickly, so visitors will stoop after a few paces.

Native Americans sheltered there in trips to the village of Queonemysing, Jack H. Spence wrote in a 1977 paper posted by the Commander Cody Caving Club, also citing legends of hidden British deserters, soldiers’ money and residents’ valuables in the Revolutionary War.

This storied past can be imagined with things like nearby ruins, and visitors can easily appreciate its serenity, with the babble of a creek and calls of unseen birds often the only sounds.

Beaver Valley Cave, Delaware's only cave, sits just 100 feet from the Pennsylvania border.

The cave was only officially acknowledged by cave experts in 1958. It’s weird that it was “lost” because it’s visible from a road in the northwestern edge of First State National Historical Park.

In the interests of safety, the cave is kept off official park maps. It’s on Beaver Dam Road, just west of Beaver Valley Road. From a small, labeled parking lot southeast of the intersection, visitors should walk up a rutted trail, turn right after the house and navigate through brambles to the cave.

It’s easy to spot in the winter, but greenery partly masks it in other seasons.

It’s almost as fulfilling just to point out this rarity while driving by.

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Ken Mammarella is a Wilmington freelance writer.