Indian Caverns License Plate Vintage – Spruce Creek PA

Description

Indian Caverns License Plate Vintage – Spruce Creek PA
Vintage for sure – hard to date but design seems to point to the 40’s or 50’s (or 60’s)….
Condition
Overall Good vintage condition.
Normal wear from exposure.
Please see photos.
A rescue from an estate in Far Northern Michigan….
Indian Caverns
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian Caverns was a show cave in Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania, United States from 1929-2017. It is a horizontal karst cave of Ordovician Nealmont / Benner limestone, estimated to be about 500,000 years old. It is the second-largest cave in Pennsylvania and the largest limestone cave. Indian Caverns consists of two sections, originally separated by a 14-foot wall: the "Historic Cave" and the "Giant's Hall". The "historic" part of the cave is generally low-ceilinged and closer to the surface (as shallow as 15 ft) with a couple of wide rooms and extensive speleothem formation. The Giant's Hall area consists of several large passageways, up to 60 feet high, but with fewer speleothems - though it does include the largest sheet of flowstone in the northeast and a substantial rimstone pool. The lowest point of the cave is approximately 140 feet beneath the surface and the cave temperature is a constant 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius).
Indian Caverns was known about by European settlers from the late eighteenth century. From about 1816, it was one of several caves used as a hideout by the outlaw David Lewis until his death in 1820. The entrance and grounds were bought in 1928 by Harold Wertz, Sr., a local entrepreneur, and the cave was opened to the public on June 14, 1929. Wertz opened the cave after two years of excavation and about half a million dollars worth of investments. Wertz, along with his family, moved to Florida during the great depression, but returned each summer to run and upkeep the caves. Before the Indian relics were found inside the first few chambers in the caverns, the cave was planned to be called "Franklin Cave", but it seemed more appropriate to be called "Historic Indian Cave".
Then in the late 1930s - early 1940s the name was changed to "Indian Caverns". It was a popular destination during the Early Auto Era due to the Edwardian fascination with the "wonders" of nature and remained in continuous operation until 2017. In 2017, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy purchased the property and is currently in the works of naturalizing the cave (returning it to its original state). The Conservancy plans to use the caverns as a bat sanctuary in the coming years and conduct research on the local bat species.
092022