New York Cave Country includes the caves of 
Schoharie and Albany Counties, including the Howe Caverns tourist attraction. Author Dana Cudmore, the author of Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure and Enterprise in New York’s Cave Country (Black Dome Press, 2021), grew up surrounded by an astonishing 150+ caves including world-famous Howe Caverns and Secret Caverns.
Cudmore and friends explored many of them, including some of the spectacular ones that are not public and less well-known, such as Ball’s Cave and Schoharie Caverns in Schoharie County, and Knox Cave in Albany County. Yet to be rediscovered, however, is Lester Howe’s legendary Garden of Eden Cave, which Howe claimed was “bigger and better” than the famous cave he discovered and opened to the public in 1842.
This week on The Historians Podcast, Dana Cudmore talks about the history and economic importance of the caves of New York Cave Country. Hand-in-hand with the story of the caves is the story of the stone and cement quarry that was also built on the region’s unique geology, and the history of the feisty, hardscrabble community that grew up around the original Howes Cave entrance and the quarry. Recently Howe Caverns was sold and reborn as an adventure destination with the reopening of the Howes Cave quarry, and the creation of a new, first-of-its-kind, museum dedicated to these underground empires.
You can listen to the podcast here.
You will find more podcasts and stories at bobcudmore.com.
For a full list of this week’s New York Almanack podcasts announcements click HERE.
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