Cathedral Caverns State Park includes the Cathedral Caverns, welcome center and camping sites

Cathedral Caverns State Park is located in Grant Alabama. The state park includes the Cathedral Caverns, a welcome center and primitive camping sites. The cavern is a Karst cave with a large stalagmite forest, the opening of the caves is a massive 126 feet wide and 25 feet high, and inside the cavern is Big Rock Canyon, Mystery River and other magnificent formations created by Mother Nature. The park was declared a National Natural Landmark in June 1972.

The motto of the state park is, `Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing by time'. This means that visitors are encouraged to take many photographs, stay on the marked trails to not ruin any of the vegetation of the park and to leave all plants where they are and to not destroy any part of the park.

During heavy rains the caves are prone to flooding from The Mystery River.

There is another 2,700 feet of caves that extend past the area that is opened to the public, this includes a crystal room. The formations in the Crystal Room are made of pure white calcite; the room is not open to the public as the vibrations from a person's voice would shatter more than 70 percent of the crystal formations. It has been discovered through archaeological excavations that at the mouth of the caverns Native Americans occupied the area around 2,000 years ago.

The caves were bought by the State of Alabama in 1987 to open the area as a state park. The caves were not opened to the public until 2000 after funding delays and restoration works were completed. The Disney Studios film Tom and Huck filmed parts of the movie at the caverns in 1995, mainly the scenes when Injun Joe falls into a chasm.

Tours of the caverns are held daily from around 10am until 4pm depending on the season with experienced tour guides who are able to guide visitors along the paved and lighted pathways and provide information about the history of the caves and details on the rare formations and how to be safe in the cave, and takes just over an hour. Walking down the slopes may be a little harder than going up due to the slipperiness of the area. There is wheelchair access available also.

The caverns hold six world records: widest entrance of a commercial cave, home to the largest stalagmite in the world - Goliath, which is 45 feet tall and 243 feet in circumference. The caverns have the largest flow stone wall, the largest `frozen' waterfall, are the largest stalagmite forest in any cave in the world and have the most improbable stalagmite formation in the world.

The caverns were originally called Bats Cave, but when original owner Jacob Gurley took his wife to the cave she was in awe of the beauty of the big room with the stalagmites and stalactites that she mentioned it looked like a `cathedral', so Gurley changed the name to Cathedral Caverns and the name has stayed in place even through its various change of ownerships.