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The modern legacy of show caves

Jon Ostendorff photo

The entwined story of people and caves is still unfolding today. A lasting legacy of caves-turned-tourist-attractions have left an indelible mark on small mountain communities. For generations, legions of local kids have worked their way through college with summer jobs as cave guides.

“We are like a close knit family,” says Lisa McClung, general manager of the Lost Sea Cave in Sweetwater, Tennessee.

McClung got her own start at Lost Sea as a summer cave guide in college, and eventually abandoned her chosen career path as a paralegal to run the cave.

“I love it. It is part of my life,” McClung says.

Guides on staff swell to 25 during peak summer season, although the attraction is open year-round. More than 160,000 tourists trek through the Lost Sea every year, bringing people from across the globe to their tiny corner of East Tennessee.

For Gary Barnett, that was a high point of being a tour guide at Bristol Caverns in the early ‘60s. The world came to his doorstep, exposing him to people and places most mountain boys never got to see, aside from those who landed a coveted cave job.

“It was fascinating to talk to people from other parts of the country and getting to see what it was like where they lived,” Barnett says.

Andrew Quinn, a manager at Linville Caverns, followed in his brother’s footstep by getting a summer guide job nine years ago.

“It was a pretty good job to have,” Quinn says. It beat flipping burgers. Quinn has been with the cave ever since.

It’s a common thread: summer caves guides who become enamored and never shake it. Barnett tried different jobs after college, but eventually returned to his first love and became the owner of Bristol Caverns in 1981.

“I worked for three different owners of the cave before I ever bought it,” Barnett says.

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