Lost Cove Cave, also known as Buggytop Cave, is a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

in Franklin County, south

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

near the towns of

Sewanee Sewanee may refer to: * Sewanee, Tennessee * Sewanee: The University of the South * ''The Sewanee Review'', an American literary magazine established in 1892 * Sewanee Natural Bridge * Saint Andrews-Sewanee School See also * Suwanee (disambiguati ...

and

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...

and close to the Alabama border. It is noted for its large main entrance and the extensive archeological artifacts of the Woodland and Mississippian periods found inside.

Description

Lost Cove Cave is a part of the

Carter Natural Area Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carte ...

section of

South Cumberland State Park South Cumberland State Park is a state park in the middle and southeast portions of Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau. The park is one of Tennessee's newer state parks, established in 1978. It is a collection of nine discrete tracts scattered ...

and is located in Lost Cove. It has three notable entrances: the main or Buggytop entrance which is wide and high, the second or Great Room entrance which was formed by the collapse of an upper section of the mid-cave area, and the third or Peter Cave entrance. The Peter Cave entrance opens into the so-called Indian Room which has been excavated for archeological artifacts since the 19th century.

Lost Cove Creek Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

(or sometimes simply Lost Creek) is a river that enters the cave from Lost Cove at the Big Sinks and emerges from the Buggytop Entrance of the cave as Crow Creek into Crow Creek Valley. From there it flows through

Sherwood, Tennessee Sherwood is an unincorporated community in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along Tennessee State Route 56 southeast of Winchester, and just north of the Alabama state line. Sherwood has a post office with ZIP code 37376. ...

before emptying into the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

Guntersville Lake Guntersville Lake (generally referred to locally as Lake Guntersville) is in northern Alabama between Bridgeport and Guntersville. Location The lake stretches 75 miles (121 km) from Guntersville Dam to Nickajack Dam. It is Alabama's larges ...

near

Stevenson, Alabama Stevenson is a city in Jackson County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Chattanooga-Cleveland-Dalton, TN-GA-AL Combined Statistical Area. Sources listed either 1866 or 1867 as the year of incorporation, but that seems to conflict w ...

, several miles to the south. File:Lost Cove Cave Main Entrance From Below.jpg, Lost Cove Cave Main "Buggytop" Entrance with Lost Creek flowing out File:Lost Cove Cave Creek From Above.jpg, View from the cliff above the "Buggytop" Entrance. Lost Creek can be seen flowing into Lost Cove. File:Lost Cove Cave Second Entrance.jpg, The Second or Great Room Entrance into Lost Cove Cave File:Lost Cove Cave Indian Room Interior.jpg, Interior of Peter Cave or the so-called "Indian Room" File:Lost Cove Cave Indian Room Entrance Interior.jpg, Peter Cave or the so-called "Indian Room" entrance from the interior File:Big Sink Lost Cove.jpg, The "Big Sink", obscured by debris, is where Lost Creek enters into the cave. File:USGS-LostCove-Map.jpg, USGS Map of Lost Cove - The cave is in the map center Archaeological work by students accomplished between 1959 and 1961 was published in The Tennessee Archaeologist, Vol. XVIII, No. 1 pp. 408 -430

References

{{commons category-inline, Lost Cove Cave
Carter Natural Area: Retrieved January 5, 2010
Wild caves Caves of Tennessee Protected areas of Franklin County, Tennessee Landforms of Franklin County, Tennessee