Our Story...About Indiana Caverns

Gary Roberson crawled into his first cave on his first Boy Scout camping trip as a Tenderfoot scout in 1958. He became an active caver the day he received his driver’s license and began mapping in the Binkley cave system in 1967 while attending Vanderbilt University, where he graduated with a busin

Surveying of the Binkley Cave System, a part of the Indiana Caverns show cave, began in 1957, over 60 years ago! Surveying continues of the Binkley Cave System as it's believed there are over 100 miles yet to be mapped.

When the Indiana Cavern's portion of Binkley Cave system was discovered in 2010, massive amounts of bones were seen: birds, snakes, microfauna, and larger species. The name "Big Bone Mountain" was coined immediately. The five-hour crawl through the water to glimpse the bones kept them in mystery for almost two years.

On Saturday, February 11th, 2012, a connection between Blowing Hole and Binkley Caves were discovered. The Binkley Cave System became the 11th longest in the nation and the longest in Indiana. Their combined length totaled 35.89 miles, with more passageways awaiting discovery. The impact of this discovery was huge. A public entrance to Binkley Cave could now be created to allow visitors into the cave system. Previously all entrances were located on private property with restricted access. As of October 2016, the cave is over 43.9 miles long.

With the creation of a new entrance in 2012, the first paleontologist visited. During his initial 6-hour visit, the state paleontologist saw 11 peccary skulls, a black bear skull, a juvenile bison, a fisher skeleton, bird bones, a snake, bear wallows, and claw marks. He immediately realized our bones were extraordinary and of significant importance.

After an immense cache of significant prehistoric remains was discovered and preserved, Indiana Caverns officially opened for public tours in June 2013. The development phase to prepare it for the public took 380 days.

A four-person speleological survey team added 1,763 feet of a recently discovered section of the Binkley Cave system known as The Wild Wild West. The new, established survey length of 38.452 miles means this cave is now the ninth longest in the country. The team explored at least another 1,000 feet of walking virgin cave beyond the official survey, demonstrating that there is much more cave to be mapped.

The Indiana State Museum led an excavation to identify and classify Ice Age Bones found at Indiana Caverns. Indiana State Museum staff have been conducting excavations in other caves for over 30 years and found just one complete Peccary skull prior to discoveries at Indiana Caverns.

In 2019, Indiana Caverns expanded to Indiana Caverns Family Adventure Park, adding an outdoor attraction, the Bat Chaser, a single-rail zip coaster.

It is only the second ride of its kind in the United States and first in the Midwest. The suspended, single rail zip coaster will take you soaring through the treetops and over the sinkhole plain of Indiana’s cave country.