THE EDGEWOOD CAVE

Most people my age had always heard that the cave on Edgewood Drive extended to Rt 21 at the intersection of Washington Street W and Sissonville Road.  It's also very possible that it also extended to Sugar Creek Drive according to the article below. The distance is the same!


Edgewood Drive Cave Story


Edgewood Drive Cave Story



Edgewood Drive Cave


Edgewood Drive Cave Story
Charleston Daily Mail, 1940

If you can not read the article above, click HERE for a PDF file that you can make much larger


Edgewood Drive Cave Story
The opening on Rt 21, Sissonville Rd.



Sissonville Road Cave
Inside

The tales of exploration of these caves goes back to the turn of the century.  I have no reason to disbelieve most of them.  It appears from the articles that the hole necessary to crawl through is so small... as to only allow boys to wiggle through.  Of course, that was then.  It's quite possible that even these entrances have been blocked by falling rock by now as the entire area is fairly unstable.  I plotted the boys trip on a map, and it turns out that the distance from Edgewood to Sissonville Rd,  is almost exactly the same as the distance to Sugar Creek Drive.  That surprised me, and so it's almost certain that the boys DID find another entrance.





UPDATE:

 I posted this story in the hopes that someone would add-to, or take away from the "myth".  I have always had some doubt about the story due to: 1... The "caves" are Sandstone. which means that it's almost impossible to have long passageways.  2....I had never found any official  remarks by any geologists concerning caves in this area.

 It's always fun to think some things are possible, even if they're not.  In this case,  I feel it's "possible" that the passagways back then were longer than today, especially on the Rt 21 side.  It's also "possible" that heavy truck traffic and construction caused the passageways to cave-in.  

Not sure we'll ever know for sure,  but a reader sent me the following letter.....

Hi Jerry,
Saw your Edgewood cave article. Nice newspaper find. I had always heard these stories but this is the first time I've ever seen anything in print to support it. You may want to take that story with a grain of salt though. I was looking for information several years ago and got in touch with some guys in the Charleston chapter of the National Speleological Society and here's what one of the emails said:

"Edgewood Cave is a myth. Legend only.  Legend has it the opening on Edgewood Drive goes through the hillside  and comes out in Sissonville area. As far as I know this is myth. I can
only assume this came from individuals who used to explore the clay mines off route 21 and claim it goes through. It doesn't. My brother Bob mapped the overhang on Edgewood Drive years ago  to a whopping 30 feet or so (best I can remember) before it pinched out. As I'm sure you are aware, Edgewood is in  sandstone, not limestone so any type of cave of any substantial size is  just not possible. If someone knows better than I am stating here,  please post your info. "


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