The Little Known Cave In Nebraska That Everyone Should Explore At Least Once
Some of Nebraska’s greatest features are the vastly under-appreciated historic natural sites. One in western Nebraska has a long and fascinating history that stretches back thousands of years, and you can still get a look at it today.
Ash Hollow State Historical Park is located southeast of Lewellen, just west of Lake McConaughy in Garden County.
The park is perhaps most popular as an Oregon-California Trail site. This spot was very important to settlers on those journeys. The natural spring provided fresh, clear water, and the terrain provided shelter from the weather.
This was an ideal place to set up camp for a little while to regroup before heading to the west, toward much more difficult terrain - not that the ground here was easy for the wagons to traverse. So many wagons passed through here that they left deep scars on the earth which you can still see clearly today.
The Ash Hollow site had been an active place of human habitation long before the westward settlers came across it on their journeys. Indigenous people used this place as a campsite for thousands of years, particularly utilizing what we now call Ash Hollow Cave as a base camp on hunting trips.
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of more than 1,500 years of human occupation in the cave and surrounding area, going all the way back to 1,000 BCE. Due to its historical significance, Ash Hollow Cave was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
Today, you can still visit the cave, which is actually more of a rock overhang. Clear barriers have been erected to protect the historic rock, but you can still get a good idea of what it must have been like to huddle in the cave for protection.
Ash Hollow Cave is just one of the interesting attractions in and around the park. You can also visit Windlass Hill, where the deep wagon ruts are still visible on the ground, just 2.5 miles from the cave. A paved walking path will take you from the cave to the aforementioned spring, while other trails will lead you throughout the breathtaking grounds. A sod house and a school made of native rock are also located in Ash Hollow State Historical Park. Nearby in the Ash Hollow Cemetery is the grave of Rachel Pattison, a young woman who died of cholera on the Oregon Trail.
Visit this unique cave and all of the other fascinating bits of Ash Hollow on Hwy. 26, southeast of Lewellen. The grounds are open year-round, but the visitors center, museum, and cave are only open Memorial Day to Labor Day. You’ll need a NE parks pass to enter the site, and admission to the visitors center is an additional $2 for adults and $1 for children. Find out more here from Visit Garden County.
Meg Archer is a Portland, Oregon-based Editor & Social Media Manager with degrees in English/Creative Writing from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and Social Psychology from Portland State University. She has held positions in writing, editing, and media-related fields for over 10 years, including serving as the Editor-in-Chief for Cal Poly’s literary journal Byzantium and copywriting for advertising/marketing agencies before joining Only In You State team in 2015. When she’s not writing or out exploring the West Coast, Meg enjoys working on visual media projects, speaking as a mental health advocate, and can always be found in the front row at Portland Timbers matches.
