Is there a real cave at Cave Spring Park?
The answer is yes, but its not a cave you can explore beyond the initial 10-15 feet.
Why? The cave is a shale-limestone cave that resulted from thousands of erosion. Unlike the caves of southern Missouri such as Fantastic Caverns, Marvel Cave and the like which are more solid and safer. The Cave entrance is part of a system that winds under Cave Spring park going north and easterly.
The Cave proper was sealed in the early 1970’s after a series of minor roof cave ins. The passage to the left when you go in was left open to allow the water from the underground stream that comes out of the mouth a release point.
The cave until 1959 had around 500,000 gallons of water a day issuing forth.
In 1959 engineers trying to build the Church across the street from the park were having issues with flooding from the stream that fed the cave. So they went down Blue Ridge Blvd and set charges underground to collapse the aquifer. This stopped the water from flooding the church but also stopped the water that was coming to Cave Spring Park. The water soon reappeared, in the middle of an abandoned runway in what is now Gregory Heights. Gregory Lake is now the new home to the water from that stream.
So yes, Cave Spring Park does have a cave on it but was sealed over 50 years ago out of safety concerns.