This 850-foot-long tunnel was once called the 8th wonder of the world
The irony of aging – or one of them – is that it takes time to acquire the wisdom to grasp the depth and breadth of our ignorance. I was a confident young man. Well-read and inquisitive and possessed a certain acumen for retaining and recalling that which I had learned. Some thought me cocky. It’s taken me 30 years of living to realize they were right.
It is only now that I realize that what I don’t know and never learned could stun a team of oxen. For instance? Within less than an hour and a half drive from my home – a natural marvel so spectacular that thrice-failed presidential candidate and Scopes Monkey Trial attorney William Jennings Bryan called it the 8th Wonder of the World. And yet, here I was decades of living in the mountains under my belt, ignorant of one of the truly awe-inspiring locations in all of Appalachia, if not the United States.
I’m talking about Natural Tunnel State Park, just across the Tennessee state line into Virginia.
IN THIS ARTICLE
About the tunnel
I took two semesters of geology in college. I don’t know how much of it I retained. But I bring it up to say I have at least some rudimentary understanding of water and rocks and what water can do to rocks over time. Like, I get the Mississippi River. I can stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and marvel at its beauty while comprehending its creation. The Natural Tunnel? I’ve read all the explanations and it still – to use the local vernacular – don’t make no sense.
Maybe we should start with what it is. The Natural Tunnel starts with a massive limestone curved wall, seemingly inexplicably cut into the side of an otherwise normal and forested mountain. It looks like God took a giant gardening spade and just cut out a large chunk of the mountain. From the creek bed below, the limestone walls tower about 300 feet high. They are ponderous. Those walls lead to the tunnel, roughly 10 stories high and 850 feet long, cutting through the mountain, beautifully, perfectly. Standing there you can’t help but wonder exactly how this wonder was made.
All I can do is tell you what the scientists say because while I understand their explanation while sitting here reading it, coldly on the page when I am faced with what the geologic process wrought, I realize I don’t understand at all.
When did the process begin?
The process began a million years ago. It was in the early glacial period when “groundwater bearing carbonic acid percolated through crevices and slowly dissolved surrounding limestone and bedrock,” according to Virginia State Parks. The water formed what would become Stock Creek and began cutting its way underground, forming the tunnel over many centuries. This makes sense to me in terms of the tunnel. It is supported by the fact the tunnel itself shows evidence of prehistoric life and fossils can be found in the creek bed and on the tunnel walls.
It does not, however, explain to me the formation of the massive limestone walls leading to the tunnels. I am inclined to say it was aliens and leave it that.
Let’s skip along an epoch or two to the 1700s. That is when famed frontiersman Daniel Boone likely became one of the first people of European descent to see the tunnel as it sits along the Wilderness Road he founded. It wasn’t until the 1830s that the tunnel began to gather acclaim. By the 1850s, the railroad companies began to take notice and the idea of a Natural Tunnel route was formed. After the Civil War, plans for the tunnel heated up and train routes through the formation began – carrying both passenger trains and coal trains in the 1890s.
Passenger service ended in 1939 but cargo trains – mostly carrying coal still use the tracks today. You might even see a train rolling through the tunnel during your visit.
About the state park
The State Park is about more than the tunnel, however. It is in a truly stunning part of the country with rolling mountains and majestic views. The park features a couple of campgrounds, historic cabins and picnic areas. The park offers cave tours and canoe trips on the Clinch River. In addition to the Visitors Center, there is the Cove Ridge Center which offers environmental education, conference facilities and overnight dorms.
The park also has a historic Wilderness Road satellite facility called the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Interpretive Center in nearby Duffield. The Center has a museum, library gift shop and outdoor classrooms.
The tunnel itself is fairly accessible as there is a chairlift down to the tunnel floor that can be stopped for people with mobility issues to get on and off of the lift. Wheelchairs and walkers can be sent in the lift as well. There is a wheelchair for public use at the lower terminal if a person’s wheelchair is too heavy to load onto the lift. There is a flat boardwalk that allows visitors to wheel up to the mouth of the tunnel.
Location and how to find it
The park is in Scott County, Virginia. If you’re coming from the directions of the Smokies, take I-40 to I-81. Take U.S. 23 North to Gate City, the turnoff onto Route 23. Or plug in the address – 1420 Natural Tunnel Parkway. Duffield, VA 24244 – into your phone. Per the state park system, it’s about an hour and a half from Knoxville.
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Wow, this destination is in our future. Wow!