#16743 Marvelling at the Earth's Handiwork in Sullivan, Missouri

This four-mile limestone cave system in Missouri’s Ozarks has been drawing visitors for over a century—possibly longer; billboards and barn roofs through out the Midwest boast that Jesse James may have used Meramec Caverns as a hideout. The easy guided tour takes guests throughout the cavern and showcases many of its striking features, such as the Wine Room, which sports bulbous, grape-like rock growths and a three-legged onyx table formation, complete with two quartz “bottles." The showpiece is the “stage curtain,” a cascading wall of stalactites stretching 60 feet along the wall of one cavern; even though Kate Smith once performed here, in this case, the 68-foot-high curtain itself is the real show.