Rockhouse Cave

Rock House Cave by Larry Tyler From Back to Barry (1989)

Rockhouse Cave is the oldest continuing tourist attraction in Barry County and exists today as a link to a most colorful past. At ¼ mile in length, it is also one of the most extensive caverns to be found in the Table Rock area and is maintained as a free private-owned attraction especially suited for the education of youngsters on field trips or outings. Curator Larry Tyler will act as tour guide or give talks on the cave and its history to groups, on request. It is a Rock House tradition that people are free to come and go at leisure to the cave, observing the basic rules of safety and preservation, and at their own risk, to enjoy this local natural wonder as their grandparents and great grandparents did before them. This tradition continues today, adding to the serenity of the atmosphere and the relaxation of those who come to enjoy the cool air, clean water and mossy cliffs of the cafe mouth. No alcohol is allowed.
For more than five thousand years the cave was used by the Ozark Bluff Dweller Indians and has provided a wealth of arrowheads of every description and many bone and stone tools. The cave was excavated in 1935 by Lee Adams, whose report is printed in Tyler's "History of Rockhouse Cave" book, 1980, pg. 125.
Modern history really began in Rockhouse Valley at the time of the Civil War. It is said that the Cassville city records were, for a day, hidden away from the Federals in Rockhouse Cave. Later, around 1862, the Federals built a stone outpost just below the big cave from which the valley eventually took the name "Rock House." Charles Howard, a young Union soldier from Springfield, returned after the war and built a frame house upon the old "rock house" foundation, which was unique for the fact that it channeled spring water from a nearby cave through a chiseled stone trough, being the only house to have running water. That was in 1882. The next year, 1883, Thomas Wilder built his home next to Rockhouse Cave, then sometimes called the "Wilder Cave," or the "upper place," with the Howard home and cave called "Lower Rockhouse Cave" farm.
The Rockhouse Cave was first "officially" explored in 1871 and it was reported that "just inside the entrance human teeth were found, so old that, on being touched, they fell as powder." (see: Goodspeed 1888) By 1873, the Rockhouse Lead Mine Co. mined the hills for galena as did the Hailey-Float Lead Co. further down valley. The records of 1888 tells it this way: "The. . . Rockhouse Company's lead mines date back to 1873, but not until 1874 did the prospect warrant a stampede thereto." Fortune Branch creek, joining lower Rockhouse Creek at Hailey, took its name, as did nearby Galena Hollow, from the mining activity of the mid-1870's.
The year of 1880 brought the organization of the town of Mineral Springs, just west of Rockhouse one mile, and the original road between Cassville and Shell Knob (via Mineral Springs) passed by Rockhouse Cave. In 1883, Thomas Wilder built his home by the cave, living there until his death in 1903. Howard passed on in 1902.
In 1908, the Rockhouse Cave Farm, including the lower Howard Cave and home, was owned and operated by John England and family. With horses, dairy cows, beef cattle, crops and hay, the farm was said to have been "one of the finest places in the whole country" (area). The England daughters give their recollections in the book History of Rockhouse Cafe, pg. 73. (Gladys, Nellie and Johnnie England)

In 1938, the Rockhouse Cave farm was owned by Sig and Carrie Reno, who maintained the farm and its lovely state, planting many beautiful shrubs and flower bulbs which still beautify the place today. The great weeping willow tree which towers over the cave entrance was planted by Barbara Reno in 1945. For 34 years, until 1972, the farm was known as the Reno place, which offered the traditional Rockhouse hospitality to all visitors to the cave.
In 1975, the farm was purchased by Larry Tyler, who compiled the history of the cave in a book, History of Rockhouse Cave, in 1980, and has for 13 years preserved the unique ecology of the cave and surrounding environs and extended the traditional Rockhouse hospitality to visitors to the cave.
Rockhouse Cave retains something of the spirit of each generation which has called it home, and owes its charm largely to the fact it has managed to escape the changes of modern days. And whether one's interest lies in the geology of the earth, the beauty of the surrounding forest, the artifacts of the Indians or the pioneer days there is always something good in store at this oldest of continuing attractions in Barry County.

The two traditional legends concerning Rockhouse Cave involved the story of the Spanish gold buried there (see: Caves of Missouri), and that there used to be a "bottomless pit" in which folks would toss rocks and "never hear them hit."
The gold legend is somewhat supported by the existence of Spanish writing, the words "Aqui Es" ("Here it is") and an arrow on the wall of a small, almost never-visited cave near Rockhouse Cave, called "Spanish Cave."
Sig Reno, it is said, once threw something down into the "bottomless pit" and "it came out at Roaring River," proving the subterranean connection between the two. Old-timers also say there used to be another, and larger, cavern passage which is no longer accessible, which led to an underground lake via a passage "large enough in some rooms to fit a house." One person reported catching blind fish in the lake and letting down "100 feet of line.”
The Spanish gold legend is also supported by the map owned by William G. Carlin who appeared at the cave one day in 1930. Bill Bryant told that he helped Carlin find a stone with an X on it, marking the cave as the site of the buried Spanish gold. Thereafter, Carlin took out a contract with John England giving him half of "all gold, silver, lead, copper, and all other minerals or treasures that may be discovered ... " (Sept. 2, 1930). Carlin, however, never returned to mine the cave and his map remains a mystery.
In 1972, shortly after the Renos sold to Thompson, someone dynamited the cave looking for the gold. The bottomless pit was blocked, and the "lost passage" was also apparently sealed off at that time. Old-timers entering the cave today remark that much fallen slabs and rocks didn't used to be there.
Stella Nafus recalled coming to Rockhouse Cave in a horse and buggy in the early 1900's while courting. The earliest graffiti in the cave is from 1889, the names, date and birthdates of 17 year old Howard and McGraw boys. The name of Sarah Wilder is carved by the mouth, dating from around 1883-1903. One rock wall, called "daterock" holds the names of visitors for one hundred years. It is clear that Rockhouse Cave has been visited continuously since around 1860, and it remains an attraction enjoyed by many today, those who like to "go caving," and those who just wish to "look around." Rockhouse Cave is a living link to a most colorful past, a heritage to be preserved, and Barry County's oldest continuing natural attraction.

Phone: 417-847-1640		Highway 112 South
Fax: 417-847-1641		P.O. Box 338
Email: info@barrycomuseum.org		Cassville, MO 65625