Natural Bridge Caverns

Natural Bridge Caverns lies under what was the Wuest family's ranch in the hills between San Antonio and New Braunfels. In 1960 four students from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Orion Knox, Al Brandt, Preston Knodell and Joe Cantu, persuaded Clara Wuest, a widowed rancher with two children, to let them explore what they thought was a small cave on her land. On March 27, 1960, they broke through into a cavern that ran on for some two miles of chambers. The name comes from the 60-foot slab of limestone that spans the sinkhole at the entrance.

The family staked the ranch on the find. Commercial development began in 1962 and the cavern opened on July 3, 1964. Digging the entrance trail turned up arrowheads and spear points dated to 5,000 B.C. and, just inside, the jawbones of a grizzly bear species extinct for more than 8,000 years. The Handbook of Texas calls it the largest known cavern in the state. It is almost entirely active, with water still dripping and formations still growing, so they keep a wet luster, and the air stays at about 70 degrees with 99 percent humidity. The largest room, the Hall of the Mountain Kings, is 350 feet long and 100 feet high. It became a National Natural Landmark in 1971.

The Discovery Tour walks three-quarters of a mile through the first chambers found, down to 180 feet, with stairs. The second cavern, Hidden Wonders, has its own tour, and the family's caving team was still finding new rooms in 2022.