Bear Cave - Buchanan
Bear Cave is located on the St. Joseph River just a few miles north of Buchanon in Southwest Michigan. The cave was formed over 10,000 years ago as a result of the glacial drift and is the only cavern in Michigan. The glacier receding left behind Tufa and boulders which make up the construction of the cave. This is not a gigantic cavern such as those found at Mammoth Cave or the Carlsbad Caverns. Rather this is a small natural cave with multiple rooms. The whole thing is only about 150 feet.
There are many details and unusual formations throughout the caverns. There are fossils embedded in the ceiling and walls, glacial boulders, and Cave Pearls. As you decend down the winding stairs into the cavern, you will see a Kansas Boulder thought to be tens of thousands of years old. The passage is about six to eight feet wide, damp, and more than ten feet high. The Tufa deposits that make up the cave walls are about 18 feet thick. While damp, the way is well lit and the various formations are well marked to add to the experience. Toward the back of the cave is a secondary passage that leads to a low ceilinged room with a large clear pool of water. Beyond the low ceiling and pool is another hidden room. This room is known as the "Slave Room" because it was used to hide slaves making their way to freedom on the "underground railroad". This room also is home to the largest population of Eastern Pipistrelle Bats in lower Michigan. It doesn't happen often, but you might see a bat during your walk through the cave.
A
visit to the cave wouldn't be complete without taking a short walk
across the ravine to visit the "Tulip Tree". The tulip tree is
enormous and sits on a high bluff above the river. The size of this
tree alone makes it worth a visit, but like everything else around
the area, there is some interesting history associated with this
tree. Local legend says that this particular tree was an important
meeting spot for councils of the Potawatomi Indians. The location of
the tree would make it an ideal spot for watching traffic, friendly
and otherwise, on the river. This would also make the spot a good
location for tribal conferences since it would be easy to find for
travelers. The huge limbs of the tulip tree seem to be bent in
unusual ways. Some say that the branches were bent by generations of
braves sitting or standing on them while keeping watch over the
approaches to the sacred gathering spot. Another possible
explanation for the bent branches is that they were bent and twisted
deliberately by the tribe. There are trees with deliberatly bent
branches near Horton Bay that form a circle that was used as a
sacred council place. On Beaver Island are trees that have similarly
bent branches that were bent that way as directional markers by
nomadic tribes travelling the archipelago.
Bear cave was used by bank robbers. The story is told that bandits robbed a bank in Ohio back in 1895. They made their way across the state line and hid out in the cave. That incident led to the cave being used to film the movie "Great Train Robbery" in 1903.
Bear Cave is a favorite Michigan back roads day trip.
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The monthly newsletter is published on the 1st of each month and is delivered by email, www.travelinmichigan.com .
The monthly newsletter is published on the 1st of each month and is delivered by email, www.travelinmichigan.com .
