This place may have seen human activity for 10,000 years, but the past few decades have been tough on the terrain. Manitou Cave of Alabama, located in Fort Payne, is a sacred space for the Cherokee. Manitou, an Ojibwa word, means spirit. It contains inscriptions from the Cherokee syllabary, which was invented by Sequoyah in 1821 while he lived in Willstown, known now as Ft. Payne. The Trail of Tears may have passed below Manitou Cave of Alabama. English language graffiti inside the huge cavern dates as early as 1814. The cave also contains fossils and at least one rare and endangered species, a water snail. In the mid-twentieth century the cave was commercialized and a Mid-Century Modern visitor center was built in 1961. The tourist attraction closed in 1973 and the pavilion was abandoned, but the concrete steps and wood and steel bridges inside the cave are intact and still lead to the “Ballroom” that featured electric lights and natural air conditioning (a constant 58 degrees) in the 1920s.
For more information, visit ManitoucaveofAL.org, follow Manitou Cave of Alabama on Facebook, or contact Annette F. Reynolds, at: ManitoucaveofAL@gmail.com.