The Story Behind Laurel Caverns with David Cale

“I wasn’t afraid of the cave, but I was afraid of people.”

Our host, Marci Mowery, sits down with David Cale, former owner of Laurel Caverns in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, for a conversation about one of the state’s most singular natural wonders.

It’s a cave system that became Pennsylvania’s 125th state park, and the first underground state park in the commonwealth.

David’s relationship with Laurel Caverns began before he was born. His grandfather purchased the surrounding land in the 1920s, when the cave, then known as Delaney’s Cave, was already a beloved destination for amateur explorers and weekend campers. David’s earliest memories are of scrambling through its passages as a boy, naming chambers after Grieg compositions, and dreaming of what lay deeper in the mountain.

That dream never let him go. Starting at age 15, David began digging through sand-clogged passages to find a new cave no one had ever seen, eventually opening what his staff named Cale’s Canyon. Today, the system spans four known miles, with perhaps four times more still buried in sand.

A philosopher by training, holding a doctorate in philosophy from Duquesne University, David ran the cavern for decades alongside his wife Lillian, pioneering bat hibernation protections as early as the 1970s and hosting Carnegie Mellon University researchers testing echolocation-inspired drones underground.

His vision for the property was always a state park. He held off developers, resisted offers of quick profit, and ultimately donated the land outright with Lillian.

Now that vision is reality.

Key Topics:

A Family Legacy in the Cave (01:47)
The Hall of the Mountain King (03:21)
Buying Back Laurel Caverns (08:58)
Bat Conservation and Hibernation Closures (12:04)
Cave History and Local Legend (15:35)
Tour Levels: From Guided Walks to 45-Story Descents (22:27)
Pennsylvania’s 125th State Park (26:55)
Laurel Caverns as a Scientific Laboratory (32:20)

Resources:

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The Story Behind Laurel Caverns with David Cale

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The Story Behind Laurel Caverns with David Cale