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Top Attractions in Boerne

Cascade Caverns

Cascade Caverns is a historically, geologically, and biologically important limestone solutional cave three miles (4.8 km) south of Boerne, Texas, United States, on 226 Cascade Caverns Road, in Kendall County. It has been commercially operated as a show cave and open for public tours since 1932. Informal tours were run as far back as 1875 when Dr. Benjamin Hester owned the cave property. The cave was known by the native Lipan Apache people who lived in the area prior to 1800. Cascade Caverns is part of the Glen Rose Formation, a shallow marine to shoreline geological formation from the Lower Cretaceous period. This formation has been exposed in a large area beginning in South Central Texas, running north through the Texas Hill Country, ending up in North Central Texas. The cave has been open to the environment for many tens of thousands of years, as evidenced by prehistoric animal finds and Lipan Apache artifacts from the 1700s. In the mid-19th century, there were various legends about a hermit that lived on the ledge at the entrance to the cave. In 1878 August Siemering, one of the co-founders of the San Antonio Express News, wrote the book Ein Verfehltes Leben (A Stolen Life, or A Wasted Life) about a hermit who lived in the cave. The book was later translated into English in 1932, The Hermit of the Cavern by May E. Francis, a UT professor. The cave was first commercially opened in 1932 and operated until about 1941. The cave was closed during WWII because most of the men were away fighting in Europe and there was strict gas rationing which limited travel. During the time of closure, the cave's artifact collection was looted from the gift shop. Business was resumed in the late 1940s. Cascade Caverns had been originally known as Hester's Cave, named after the wife of a late 19th century landowner. It became most famous as a result of Frank Nicholson's publication of cave explorations. Frank Nicholson was the first person in modern times to explore the cave all the way to the Cathedral Room. This required getting past the Lake Room which was a sump. According to a newspaper article from November 1931 in the San Antonio Express News, they had some waterproof molasses buckets that they put their lights in. There is also a legend that they put flashlights in mason jars. The cave tour business changed hands many times over the years. In the 1930s there was a flag-stop on the San Antonio-Boerne SA&AP train line which ran by the cave about a hundred yards from the entrance. The current gift shop was originally a pavilion next to a kitchen. The Menger Hotel ran a restaurant near the cave entrance when the cave initially opened as a commercial endeavor in 1932. At one time there was a toy train from Joske's department store that ran around the grounds. The train still exists and is in storage, but is no longer used. There was also at one time a swimming pool, a movie theater, a gravity house. All of these things are long since gone. In 1967, the artist Paul Kime, who had a studio at Cascade Caverns in the 1960s, created a parade float that was last used in the Weihnachts Parade in 2010. In April 1984, a Texas Historical Marker was placed near the cave to commemorate the natural landmark. In 1993, the The Walt Disney Company filmed a movie called Father Hood starring Patrick Swayze. They filmed for several weeks both inside the cave and out on the grounds. Several minutes of footage were used in the final version of the film. A prop in the film was a giant T-Rex which is still located near the gift shop today. The original Gift Shop (constructed in 1932) was badly damaged and the Alfred & Edith Gray Theater (constructed in 1984) was destroyed in a flood in 2002. Cascade Caverns maintains an average temperature of 60–65 °F (16–18 °C) all year round. A forty-five minute to one-hour commercial tour passes through a half mile of flowstone corridors and winding chambers, which leads one 132 feet below the surface and into the Cathedral Room. Below the Cathedral Room is another cave which is only accessible through a drain pipe that was installed in the early 1960s after the natural passage was collapsed during a flood. Adventure Tours to the lower cave are given by expert cavers by reservation only. The sump at the bottom of the Lower Cave is about 230 feet below the surface. The cave was host to Texas’ only cavern with a natural interior waterfall. Originally, there were 7 waterfalls in the cavern. A very bad drought in the 1950s caused all of the waterfalls to dry up, except for the one in the Cathedral Room. It would either not run or unexpectedly flood the room, so in the 1960s the original source of the water was cemented up and an artificial waterfall was installed to mimic the original one without the danger of flooding. This very feature, the cascading waterfall, is what had earned the cave its name. The cave is 95% alive and water droplets persistently fall upon the cave formations. The primary formation found in the cave are Soda straws. Most are quite short because of frequent flooding. The cave is home to unusual insects. These include cave crickets (Rhaphidophoridae) and cave beetles (Rhadine persephone - very rare!). Also to be found in the cave are a microscopic creature called Stygobromus dejectus, the Cascade Caverns Amphipod. There are also amphibians, crawfish, reptiles, Tricolored bats (Pipistrellus), and the rare Cascade Caverns Neotenic Salamanders that live in the cave. Known as the Cascade Caverns Salamander or Kendall County Salamander, it can only be found in Cascade Caverns and another regional cave, the Cave Without a Name. Mastodon remains, Saber-toothed Tiger bones (Smilodon), American Bison bones, and other animals have been found in the cave. Native American artifacts, human remains, and even a pistol were reportedly found during excavation of the front room. Most of these items disappeared during the closure in the early 1940s. Tours are run year-round, with only rare closings due to flooding. There is a dam that protects the cave from unexpected flash flooding. There have been quite a few floods throughout the years that have impacted the cave. Naturally the cave formed with the help of flooding, with water helping to carve out the rock. During the exploration in 1931, it was reported that there were white fish in the cave. After the natural flow of water was inhibited with the dam these fish are no longer seen.

Kendall Inn

The Kendall Inn is a historic hotel located in Boerne, Texas, United States, that originally opened in 1859. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1976. The two-story vernacular Greek Revival structure is one of the few remaining 19th century resort hotels in Texas. Erastus and Sarah Reed constructed the limestone block hotel. The Reeds came to Boerne from Georgia, where they had operated and managed hotels. The Inn was known as the "Reed House" and offered four rooms for travelers. In 1869, Col. Henry C. King purchased the inn from the Reeds and renamed the hotel "King Place". In 1878, J. C. Rountree and W. L. Wadsworth purchased the inn from King and added two wings on to the building. The name of the inn was changed to the "Boerne Hotel". In 1884, the inn was purchased by James T. Clark. Dr. J. H. Barnitz of San Antonio acquired the inn in 1909 and renamed the hotel "Ye Kendall Inn", Barnitz had electrical wiring installed and added community bathrooms. In 1922, the inn was purchased by Robert L. and Maude Hickman. Mrs. W. F. Grinnan bought the Kendall Inn in 1960. Notable people that have lodged at the inn include Jefferson Davis, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Robert E. Lee. The hotel is currently called Ye Kendall Inn and has 36 rooms each with modern private bathrooms and antique Victorian era furnishings. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1983, Marker number 5925.
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