Expansion planned at Laurel Caverns
David Cale, owner of the Laurel Caverns, has made many changes over the years to the famous tourist attraction. In line with the facility’s 40th anniversary, Cale is adding something new this year. He’s putting in an underground picnic shelter. And, like the rest of the facility, Cale promises it will be unique.
The new shelter will be a simulated cave, and part of it will be underground.
Cale, 58, a professor of business economics at West Virginia University, said the new shelter is going to be “environmentally a part of the mountain.”
It will be “architecturally different,” Cale added, noting it won’t look like a picnic area by design.
The new shelter will have an equipped kitchen and modern bathrooms and will overlook the view of the Laurel Highlands.
Cale said it is being designed for use by school groups and will provide a unique opportunity for schoolchildren who cannot go down into the caves for tours.
Cale said he’s only upholding a tradition of preservation started by his grandfather Norman Cale, who purchased Laurel Caverns, known then as Delaney’s Cave, in 1925.
Located in Wharton Township off Route 40, the facility includes 435 acres of land and three miles of caves.
Cale said a limestone company was originally set to purchase the land, but his grandfather wanted to preserve the caves. He formed a partnership with a cousin, Roy Cale, and together they purchased the original 85 acres.
However, a survey soon revealed that the caves encompassed an area larger than 85 acres. Norman and Roy extended their partnership to include a relative of Roy’s and an executive from Monessen. The new partners then began to purchase the remaining land, and by 1937 they owned all 1,030 acres, 600 acres of which were later sold to the Fairchance Borough.
Norman Cale and his wife became sole owners, as Roy Cale had passed on in 1942 and the remaining partners sold their interest to Norman.
Cale said he grew up with this land.
When he was a child, Cale came to the then-undeveloped woodlands with his grandfather to picnic.
“We just enjoyed having the land,” Cale said.
But their serenity was soon disturbed by potential lawsuits.
Teenagers in the area would trek up to the caves with beer and get drunk, Cale said. They would roam around the caves and get lost or leave for a friend’s house and not tell their parents.
Cale said his grandfather received many late-night phone calls from mothers who were worried about their missing children. Cale said he would search the caves with his grandfather. Once there, the missing teens had either left or were huddled together in the dark, their flashlights having been dropped or gone out.
As such cases increased, so did the lawsuits.
“You could lose everything you had,” Cale said. Therefore, the caverns were opened for commercial use in order to protect both the visitors and the owner. In 1962, development and excavation work began, and on July 1, 1964, Laurel Caverns began guided tours.
Preservation, though, was not always the goal. Previous owners of Laurel Caverns had other ideas.
In 1964, Norman Cale unexpectedly sold Laurel Caverns to two attorneys from Greensburg, Emmett C. Boyle, Jr. and Ned J. Nakles. The attorneys wanted to build a ski slope on the mountainside, but Cale, who managed the caverns for the attorneys, convinced them the idea would be a “development disaster.”
Cale wanted to buy back his grandfather’s land, but he didn’t have the finances.
Therefore, he formed a partnership with Donald Shoemaker, owner of the nearby historic Summit Inn. Shoemaker bought Laurel Caverns and gave Cale an interest until he was able to buy Shoemaker out. Cale, who has a master’s and a doctorate degree in philosophy, become sole owner in 1986.
Over the years, Cale said many people have approached him about breaking the land up into lots. His grandfather even sold a space on the land to AT&T for a tower, but Cale bought it back.
Money has never been his primary goal, said Cale.
“If you wanted to make money,” Cale said, “you would make [Laurel Caverns] a quarry.” The 15 million tons of Loyalhanna limestone inside the caverns could be “worth billions” as a quarry, he maintained.
Cale said he wants everyone to enjoy Laurel Caverns, which is why he’s building the picnic shelter.
Groundwork on the new shelter will begin in June, and a small ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone will be held on July 1. Cale hopes to finish the work by October in order to open the simulated cave shelter for use in the spring season of 2005.