Visiting Dunbar Cave State Park – Everything You Need to Know
Dunbar Cave State Park is located in Clarksville. The park is unique because of the 8-mile cave complex it is home to.
For our goal of visiting all 59 state parks in Tennessee, we visited Dunbar Cave State Park on an unpleasantly cold day in January.
However, this wasn’t our first time in the park. We actually visited many times years ago when we lived in Clarksville, so at the moment, we’re more familiar with this park than any of the other ones in Tennessee except for the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.
Quick Facts
Location: Clarksville
Size: 144 acres
Activities: Cave tours, hiking
Camping: No camping
Cabins: No cabins
History
Dunbar Cave State Park is centered around Dunbar Cave, which is a cave complex that stretches around 8 miles. Archaeologists have found artifacts in Dunbar Cave dating back to 10000-8000 B.C.
During the Mississippian era (800-1550 A.D.), Native Americans used the cave for ceremonial purposes. The cave has painted symbols inside that researchers believe are religious in nature.
Dunbar Cave has had quite the exciting recent past as well. Following the Civil War, a man bought the cave and built a hotel nearby. Later additions included a swimming pool, bathhouse, and tennis courts.
Country music singer Roy Acuff bought Dunbar Cave in 1948. He held music festivals and shows in front of the cave. The hotel burned in 1950, but you can still see the concession stand that was built for shows next to the cave.
The State of Tennessee purchased Dunbar Cave in 1973.
Features
Dunbar Cave State Park is not the largest state park by far, but it is a very unique spot!
Guided Cave Tours
Dunbar Cave State Park offers cave tours from May until September. There are multiple types of tours available with different minimum age requirements.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that cave tours will proceed as normal for the 2025 season. In February Dunbar Cave flooded, and the Mississippian Cave art was completely covered. The park is working to move forward and fix the damages.
Hiking
Dunbar Cave State Park has several miles of hiking trails that take you around the lake and by the entrance to the cave.
The Lake Trail is the easiest hike. It’s a .7 mile hike on a paved trail around the lake. Both the Short Loop Trail (1.1 miles) and the Recovery Trail (1.9 miles), go through the surrounding forest as well as around the lake.
On our most recent trip to Dunbar Cave State Park, we took the Lake Trail, but when we lived in Clarksville, we tried out the longer trails as well. Even though you aren’t able to take cave tours right now, the park is still a nice place to get outdoors to enjoy the forest and spot some wildlife.
Events
Each year the Friends of Dunbar Cave group hosts two fundraising events called Cooling at the Cave. This is a concert series that pays homage to the cave’s history as a venue for entertainment while owned by Roy Acuff.
Tickets are typically limited (due to parking limitations) and sell out quickly!
Should you visit?
We have enjoyed all of our visits to Dunbar Cave State Park. While it is unfortunate that cave tours will likely not proceed as normal this year, the park is still worth visiting.
—
Thanks for reading! If you’d like to see all the Tennessee State Parks we’ve visited so far (and get some more recommendations), check out this article!
––
Read Next:
One Comment