Museum of North Carolina Minerals
Check pricesA Blue Ridge Parkway museum showing the region's mineral resources and mining history through hands-on exhibits.

Photo: Jan Kronsell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Take a short guided tour inside Humpback Mountain through North Carolina's only show cave, where trout swim in an underground stream.
19929 US 221 North, Marion, NC 28752 · Marion, NC
Linville Caverns lie inside Humpback Mountain on US 221, just south of Linville Falls, and are the only show caverns in North Carolina. Fishermen found them in the early 1800s when they saw trout swimming in and out of the rock, and native trout still live in the underground stream. Guided tours of about half an hour leave every 10 minutes, with at most 15 people, and cover the formations, the bats that hibernate there in winter and the story of Civil War deserters who hid inside. Adults pay $15, seniors $14 and children 4 to 12 $13.
The closest stops to Linville Caverns, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
A Blue Ridge Parkway museum showing the region's mineral resources and mining history through hands-on exhibits.
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