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Join us for a trip back in time to Bull Shoals Caverns, one of the world’s oldest limestone caverns in the Ozark Mountains.

Located in Bull Shoals, central northern Arkansas, these remarkable caverns maintain a constant 59°F (15°C) year-round and are still alive and growing today.

Geologists estimate that the caverns formed approximately 350 million years ago, carved out by water slowly dissolving and enlarging cracks in the limestone over millions of years. Underground streams flow throughout the caverns, and a small waterfall is located at the deepest part.

Almost every known cave formation found in the United States appears here, including:

• Stalactites
• Stalagmites
• Draperies (also called drapolites)
• Boxwork
• Columns
• Cave pearls
• Flowstone …and many others.

The caverns are home to various lifeforms such as salamanders, pipistrelle bats (very small), frogs, and camel crickets.

Human history in the caverns dates back thousands of years:

• Evidence of Native American use has been documented through carbon dating, with activity as early as around 300 BC (some sources suggest possible use up to ~10,000 years ago).
• During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers harvested saltpeter (a key ingredient for gunpowder) here.
• In the early to mid-1900s, the caverns served as a hideout for moonshiners during Prohibition.
• During World War II, locals used them for refrigeration and storage of food and whiskey.

The caverns were first opened to the public as a show cave for tourism in 1958. Today, visitors enjoy guided tours along well-lighted concrete walkways. The site is also part of Mountain Village 1890, a recreated Ozark settlement featuring authentic 19th-century buildings.