Name/Title
S07.06.009Description
The entrance to Freeland's Cave in Meigs Township, Adams County, Ohio. Freeland's Cave is located on the south side of Turkey Creek. When the cave was resurveyed in 1985 by the Wittenberg University Speleological Society, it was the longest known cave in Ohio. The cave is developed along joints in the dolomite of the Silurian Geologic Period. The photograph was taken as part of the Ohio Cave Survey project in 1952.
Information for this slide comes from Philip M. Smith's presentation notes for Exploring Ohio's Caves: An illustrated discussion of Ohio's underground caverns prepared for the information program of the Ohio Division of Geological Survey. The notes are in Box 1154, Folder 3 of the Geology Subject Files compiled by Pauline Smyth. This is slide 11 in the notes: The limestone belt in which most Ohio caves are located extends from Adams County bordering on the Ohio River on the south to the Bass Island Group in Lake Erie on the north. More than sixty caves in 100-mile-wide band running north and south through the state have been explored by Ohio speleologists.
In 1952, the Central Ohio Grotto of the National Speleological Society in cooperation with the Ohio Geological Survey established a comprehensive survey of Ohio caves and caverns. This photo is part of that project described by Philip M. Smith in his article The Ohio Cave Survey.
For more information about the project, see the following resources:
The Ohio Cave Survey by Philip M. Smith (Ohio Journal of Science, vol. 53, no. 6, Nov. 1953, pages 325-236).
Let’s Save Ohio’s Caves. Smith, Philip M. Ohio Conservation Bulletin, v. 17, no. 4 (1953). Pages 6-7, 31 (4 figs.).
Ohio an Assessment of Three Candidate and Two Additional Troglobitic Invertebrate Species for Possible Listing as Federally Endangered or Threatened Species by Horton H. Hobbs, III (Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, 1996), Item #4483 in Fountain Square Library of Ohio Geological Survey.
This slide image included in the USGS National Digital Catalog for NGGDPP Grant G15AP00115 in FY2015.Context
Rock cave with person kneeling and taking pictures in front of it. Freeland's Cave in Adams County, Ohio.