Ruby Falls Cave, one of the Southeast’s must-see attractions, lay hidden 1120’ under Lookout Mountain until Leo Lambert discovered it in 1928. He knew he found something special and immediately began to turn it into a tourist attraction. Today, it’s part tourist trap, part Chattanooga icon, and part testament to the spirit of discovery and childhood dreams.
We have been on caving expeditions deep in the Belizean rainforest and photographed attractions worldwide. Like the lyrics of a Bond Song – “All we wanted was a sweet distraction for an hour or two.” We found a beautiful centerpiece attraction wrapped in many layers of fascinating stories and secrets.
Lookout Mountain Caverns
Lookout Mountain Cave is one of the longest caves in America with 2.481 miles of mapped passage. The natural entrance to the cave sits near the Tennessee River and is, or was, a straightforward horizontal cave entrance that has been known and visited since the ice age. (There were Pliocene bones found in the cave). It was mined for saltpeter (used to make gunpowder) and even used as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War. Even POTUS Andrew Jackson visited and was so impressed that he signed the walls.
Perhaps the most significant visitor was Leo Lambert. Leo, like many Chattanoogans of the time, loved to explore Lookout Mountain Cave. His childhood playground was closed in 1905 when the Southern Railroad Company was forced to build a tunnel through Lookout Mountain, which sealed the natural cave entrance.
Leo never gave up his dream of returning to Lookout Mountain Cave. He found investors and started drilling an elevator shaft 420’ down to the main passage. Although this might sound like a pipe dream, the project was underway. Every day, the laborers dug deeper and deeper. They inched along digging 5’ a day until, at the 260’ mark, something remarkable happened. The jackhammers plunged into a void that led to the magnificent Ruby Falls.
See Ruby Falls
When Leo heard about the breakthrough, he immediately set out to explore it. He and his partner dropped down the dark shaft and disappeared into the unknown. The passage was only 18” high, and 5’ wide, but they were undaunted. Slowly, they crawled through the cold, wet passages. After three hours, they were able to stand up for the first time. After ten hours, they were the first living creatures to see Ruby Falls. Finally, seventeen hours later, the re-emerged into the outside world excited to share their discovery.
Who was the first person they took to the falls? Leo’s wife, Ruby Lambert. I can imagine how that conversation went….
I haven’t seen you for seventeen hours. Where have you been?
Crawling through a 56 degree, underwater stream in 18” high passage. It was great. You need to see the waterfall at the end.
Sounds like fun, when can we go?
How about tomorrow
Honestly, I can’t imagine that conversation ever taking place, yet Ruby went down three days later to see the falls for herself. What an amazing woman. When I think of women from the twenties, I imagine flapper dresses, but this gal was hardcore. A fitting namesake for a beautiful place.
How Lookout Mountain Cave Became Ruby Falls
Leo kept digging down the remaining 160’ down to Lookout Mountain Cave and opened up a tour route there in 1930, but the tours only lasted for five years. In 1935, the last commercial cave tours to Lookout Mountain Cave stopped. In part, because Ruby Falls is so beautiful and unique, but there was a darker reason – soot.
In 1961, Thomas Barr Jr led a scientific expedition to Lookout Mountain Cave. His team found and mapped previously undiscovered passage. They also found nearly every up facing surface fouled with soot. Cave passages exist that humans can’t possibly crawl through. There were micro-cracks from the railroad tunnel into Lookout Mountain Cave that dumped the engine smoke into the cavern. Barr said this of the experience “exploring of the cave is unpleasant because of the necessity of wading, crawling, climbing, and becoming covered with soot.”
Delicate cave ecology can’t recover from pollution and abuse because of minimal air and water circulation and precise chemistry at work. Even the touch of human hands can stop flowstone from every growing again. There was no way this cave was more powerful than a locomotive.
In 2005, Tennessee Elevator Inspectors sealed or resealed the cave’s fate. They ordered the lower elevator shaft to be permanently closed. The Ruby Falls operators complied and sealed the passage. Since that day, nobody has entered Lookout Mountain Cave again.
Building Ruby Falls as a Tourist Destination
Malcolm Gladwell defines the tipping point as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” In his book by the same name, he says “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.” Specifically, a social epidemic like creating the tourist destination of Ruby Falls involves three types of peoples mavens, salesmen, and connectors. Mavens are information specialists who connect us with new information like the lost cave of Lookout Mountain. Salesmen are persuaders who can get a project going. Finally are the connectors who can bring groups of people together.
Leo Lambert was the maven who envisioned building the elevator shaft and the salesman who formed Lookout Mountain Cave Company to dig the shaft. However, the Great Depression was too much for the company, and they went bankrupt.
The new ownership was the connectors. They began the See Ruby Falls campaign that permeated, not only billboards for hundreds of miles away but also popular culture. When Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison write a song about you, you know you have been heard.
Ruby Falls Cave has been developed as well. They were one of the first commercial caves with electric lighting that has since been transformed into solar-powered LED lights. The 18” high ceiling passage was dug out into cobblestone walking passage. The rock removed from the elevator shaft was used to build a replica 15th-century castle called Lookout Mountain Castle. Currently, there is a 20 million dollar expansion project running through 2020.
Is Ruby Falls Fake?
I put this section in with a little trepidation. Ruby Falls obviously uses artificial lighting, widened the passages, and installed a walkway. These modifications were necessary to create a safe and accessible tourist cave experience. The question remains, is Ruby Falls a real waterfall.
I am a member of the National Speleological Society, which is the United States’ premier organization for the protection and exploration of caves. I searched their archives for a clue and came across this entry from an NSS member whose NSS number was in the 6,000 range. This means he was one of the first 7,000 people ever to join this organization. For reference, my member number is in the 50,000 range.
Quite a few years ago, Ruby Falls Cave hired Roy Davis of Cumberland Caverns fame to “supplement” their waterfall.
As is true of most karst streams, the waterfall in Ruby Falls was quite spectacular during most of the winter and spring, our wet season, but dried up to barely a trickle in the summer and fall. Unfortunately, the summer is their big tourist season.
Roy Davis used scaffolding and installed a pump, so now there is a “nice” waterfall for the tourists to see year-round.
The last time I was in Ruby Falls, and it was many years ago, the Falls was in the dark when we arrived there on the tour. The tour guide punched a button, a pre-recorded spiel about the waterfall was heard, and, in the background, I heard the pump kick on and the volume of the waterfall increase significantly. As soon as the waterfall was up to “commercial flow”, the lights came on and the tourists went: “Ooooh….Ahhhh !!!!”.
So is Ruby Falls fake or real? I believe the falls are absolutely are real, and the flow you see on the commercial tour represents a reasonable, high season volume. There is evidence, like this NSS entry, the reported pump sounds, and the fact that the flow varies little season by season, that suggests the falls might have been augmented for the tour. One might even argue the enhancement is reasonable for a commercial cave tour.
Other Ruby Falls Tours and Trips
An adult ticket costs $19.95. You can package it together with Rock City or the triple play with Incline Railroad to save money. They also offer a Ruby Falls Haunted Caverns experience where makeup artists from The Walking Dead create a cast of characters that haunt the escape tunnel. Buzzfeed says it’s America’s fourth scariest tour. There are even people who claim the cave is actually haunted. If that doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping, you can try the Ruby Falls Zipline.
Wrapping Up Our Experience at Ruby Falls
Today’s Ruby Falls tour takes just a little over an hour. A guide will gather you all at the bottom of the elevator and lead you on about a ½ hour walk through the cave. They will point out pools and speleothems (stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, etc.) that are passably ok. The passage is not quite wide enough for a wheelchair or strollers, but you can walk around with ease. Your guide describes the cave history and points out particularly interesting formations. However, the reason everybody visits is Falls Room inside of Ruby Falls.
The Falls Room has nature crowd control. Each tour group enters when the light show starts and exits when the lights go down. The lights illuminating the falls change from blue to red to white. Groups shuffle closer and further from the base of the falls to avoid the cool mists and to change their perspective. You have enough time to see the falls and take your pictures but don’t wait too long to get a clear frame.
After the falls, you are now a survivor. Your group shuffles back to the entrance returns to the surface. It’s a fun tour, and the falls are a unique cave experience.
Ruby Falls has a fantastic history and backstory. The elevator makes the tour accessible to many people who could not otherwise venture that deep into a cave. Even if there is a little extra lighting and storytelling, you can’t help but marvel at the natural beauty of a 145′ waterfall deep inside Lookout Mountain.
If you want to learn more about Chattanooga activities, check out our Chilling in Chattanooga the Guide to Good Times. Nearby Cloudland Canyon has some wild cave tours if you are looking for more caving adventures. If you’re heading to Lookout Mountain on the first or last weekend of the month, you could snag a permit and hike the Lula Lake Trails.
Disclaimer: Although our experience was complimentary, the views and opinions expressed are entirely our own.
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My husband is really tall and I have a hard time getting him to agree to go to caves. But maybe if I position this one like it’s the magical mystery tour, he’ll go for it.
He would probably do ok. There are a lot of vertical cracks so he should could fit up and down. Magical Mystery Tour is a great way to describe the lighting.
I think it’s important to point out how delicate the ecosystem of a cave can be. Most people don’t think about it since it appears to be all stone and water, but as you said, even the oil from our hands can disrupt the balance. This is a fascinating story though, it will be interesting to see what it all looks like by 2020!
I have been an active caver for years so cave ethos is near and dear to my heart. Caves have been around for tens of thousands of years. There is no plant nor structure on earth that can compare to that. Yet, they are so fragile. Glad you enjoyed the post.
I went to Ruby Falls a few years ago (SO beautiful!) but I either missed or forgot all the backstory. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure. It’s a pretty cool story that I was happy to tell.
Love the summary of their conversation, aha- if my husband discovered something like this, I’d be there right away too! Beautiful photos, despite being American I have yet to visit TN!
Tennessee is a place everybody should visit. Great Smokey National Park, Nashville, Graceland and Chattanooga could be bundled together into a descent little trip. It’s also a logical jumping off point to visit Huntsville Alabama – Rocket City USA. We’re pulling together an area piece to lure you to the Rocky Top State.
I really liked the history when I heard it. The story of a scientist (chemist) forming a company and digging into the lost cave of his childhood really resonated with me.
We thought it was pretty good bang for the buck for the waterfall. The rest of the tour was just gravy.
Ten year olds should be brave and fearless. The should get into trouble everyday and make their parents work to keep them save. Next time you’ll have to conquer Python Cave
I really liked the story of re-opening Lookout Mountain Cave. There is a cave by Tucson, where we use to live called Agua Caliente. It was about the same size a Lookout Mountain cave and close enough to town that people could pop in after work. A millionaire, rumored to be from Microsoft, purchased the land and built a home on the property. He sealed the cave and nobody has returned since. In the Tucson caving community there are still stories about the lost Agua Calient Cave
Ruby Falls is so beautiful! Love the lighting of the caves. Sounds like a lot of tourism is coming to the area and I can see why!
Chattanooga had a heavy industrial base. In 1969 it was considered one of the dirtiest cities in America because of the industry and they way the mountains trapped the air. In the 80’s it saw a population contraction with the recession. They invested in infrastructure to change the dynamic of the town. The put in super fast networks – hence their Gig City claim and built up the Riverwalk park, aquarium. and the rest of that neighborhood downtown. They lured in a Volkswagen plant and several other quality employers. As a result, they are the only city that shrank in the 80’s to return to their original size. I predicted good things for the future of the Chattanooga.
I never knew this cave existed! I love the story you shared of the cave’s history. I imagine they have to limit the number of people on the tours as a way to preserve the falls, right?
The tour size is more about crowd management. It’s about as big of a tour as will fit in the cave and they run them nearly back-back-back based upon loading in the falls room. The pick a “reasonable” amount of time for people to spend in the falls and a reasonable amount of people for the room. I thought they did a good job with both so I was satisfied with the tour.
So cool! I loved all the amazing history you included. I can’t believe one fall has gone through so much change and exploration to become what it is today. Your photos are stunning!
Thank you. I compiled the history from the tour and multiple sources on-line. I think it might be better than the current wiki page, at least more entertaining and readable.
This cave waterfall looks amazing with the lights, but do look a lil commercialized. It’s amazing how people could discover all these hidden places in the first place!
It is commercialized but I am a fan of show caves. It gets a lot of people underground and thinking about caves who otherwise wouldn’t know anything about them. Wild caves require a special degree of care to explore safely, without damaging them.
I am still trying to figure out how they knew to dig here. I bet there was some kind of a sink they were digging into that was the tell that passages existed below. I wonder if they expect to dig 400′ down or if they hoped that they would have broken into passage sooner.
Good on Leo’s wife- no wonder it’s named after her. I think the caves are already eerie enough with the LED lights, never mind throwing in some walkers to jack up the creep level. It’s nice that they’ve allocated so much money into this project. Hopefully most of it goes into preserving the cave and falls!
I think a lot of the improvements are going on above ground. The cave tour is naturally limited by how many people the can cycle through the falls room so their best opportunity for expansion is to add more stuff to do elsewhere. We went shoulder season on a weekday so there was little waiting. We went on the weekend during a barbecue tasting and the place was packed. I think adding more things to do above ground would greatly increase people’s enjoyment waiting for their tour to start.
What a cool experience. I loved the story – except the part about the railroad dumping soot. Monsters! Hopefully we know better now and will preserve this beauty.
Luckily, Ruby Falls doesn’t have an air passage down to the lower cave that’s fouled with soot.
I went to Chattanooga once on a memorable school trip, which included a visit to Lookout Mountain, but not (why, oh why?) Ruby Falls. I, too, am always impressed by explorers who are the first to visit a place – to spend days/weeks/months with no idea of what may be down there. It’s truly incredible and always inspiring!
Some of explores in history are really incredible. Imagine the gusto to pack up, without a guide, map or even knowledge of the language and see what’s out there. There are few spots on Earth left that you can just google before you go. Caves are a noted exception. I have been on push trips that led to places no man has seen before. Those spots are getting fewer and far between these days.
What made the field trip memorable?
Did not know about this cave – so cool. Ruby Falls Cave looks stunning in the LED lights.
They certainly did a good job with the lighting on the cave. Some places are colorful, other naturally lit and other left with just the right amount of shadow,
The falls are beautiful! I love the clouted lighting, it really makes the falls stand out. For some reason I’ve always loved the name Chattanooga! I’ve been in the caves in Zagreb mountain, Croatia and I love how cool it was on a hot day!
I love the name Chattanooga too. It goes so well with Choo Choo too. I keep hearing more and more good things about Croatia. It’s on our must see list.
Wow — love the photographs. I’ve tried shooting in caves before, and I know it’s not easy. Like others, I’d never heard of this cave, but it’s on my Tennessee trip list now! The story of its discovery somehow put me in mind of watching the old Tom Sawyer film when Tom and Becky are caught in the cave with just a torch for light. It’s hard to imagine how much grit cave exploration took in the 1920’s.
It’s a lot easy to shoot in show caves where there is electric lighting. Jenn has amazing steady hands and is able to take long exposure shots without a tripod. I don’t know how she does it.
Tom Sawyer film and not book… Mark Twain is magnificent in any form. I love his quote on travel – Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.
I’m so happy you were able to explore a little bit of Tennessee while in the Southeast! I keep hearing great things about this area, and this is really pushing me to visit…while shaming me for not already doing so, lol! Great article! =)
Thank you. Tennessee turned out to be a lot of fun. You should definitely go sometime.
Since this cave have no natural entrances until the shaft was dug in, so it had no nature ecology. They are doing some good things, like putting in LED lights to keep down the heat / energy entering the cave but I’m sure that they need to do regular lint cleanup. I am kind of surprised that they don’t have a vacuum set up on the entry to remove the loose particulate before entry. I think they are doing a good job of balancing the tours with the parts of the cave that require protection.
Leo’s commitment was rock solid (pun intended) throughout. First, he got the project started to dig 420′ into a cave he wanted to explore again. Then, he plunged into the unknown for 17 hours and then returned with his wife days later. (kudo’s for Ruby too). I love this story of adventure and discovery.
The do have an elevator to do most of the hard work. It’s not wheelchair accessible but it isn’t a strenuous tour by any means. Glad you liked the photos.
This post brings back many memories for me. My family traveled to Chattanooga when I was young and I still remember vividly many of the things we did and saw. My grandparents lived in Tennessee and on the many trips to visit we passed so many of those “See Ruby Falls” billboards along the road. A small little part of my past I had forgotten about.
Roadside signs are definitely underrated. When travelling the back loops of route 66 I also really enjoy the Burma Shave signs.
This certainly looks like a different and fun experience. Interesting how they light up the attraction and it would be good to see it first hand. Lovely photos and narrative. I’m sure the tour would have been interesting with the guide to see and appreciate the history of this natural formation.
The guides did an excellent job of putting a human face on this beautiful location. The stories of adventure and exploring warmed me to my very core.
I’ve never heard of Ruby Falls until now. What a spectacular place! I’m also imagining a flapper hiking 🙂 It’s always interesting to see how tourist stops came to be.
There is an undeniable, unique history to roadside attractions. Before highways and reliable cars, the back roads and attractions made the process of travel as important as the destination itself.
What a fascinating history! I can’t believe the bravery of some people to crawl through the unknown in the hope of finding a natural wonder like this, especially with 1920’s technology! It’s fantastic that is has been developed to let people see the beauty of the falls.
Carbide lamps are surprisingly effective. The rocks dissolve into natural gas that burns for hours with a flint lighter. It’s a little crude but it gets the job done. With all the mining in the area carbide and lamps should have been readily available. It’s the thermal gear that astounds me. They were crawling through 56 degree streams for hours on end. This was without polypro or neoprene. I imagine that they had rubberized wool or something that would have been heavy. You can tell that i have thought about it a bit too.
I don’t know much about Tennessee other than I think Elvis was from there and of course the Jack Daniels. It’s interesting to know there is such a beautiful falls here too, Ruby Falls. The solar powered colorful lights on Ruby Falls make these falls unique, I’ve not seen this effect put on falls before. I’ll definitely visit Ruby Falls on my next east coast road trip.
There are surprising places in Tennessee, you expect country music and civil war battlefields. There is also the Great Smoky Mountains. We surprised me was Jack Daniels. We took a tour that we are writing up in a couple of weeks that was really interesting. They take their quality control very seriously there.
Wow these caves look amazing I love how the electric lights now make it look more spectacular. Your photos really show the colours and I would love to see it in real life too hopefully, I might get there one day.
The colorful lights give just enough effect without being gaudy. I liked it that the lights did cycle through many colors and hues that also included white. You have your choice of pictures and memories.
I like those vibrant shades of pink n purple of Ruby Falls. Ecologists would surely love to visit this place. Hopefully 20 million dollar expansion project will get complete in 2020
I think the ecologists would be pleased with the LED lighting and zero emission goals. They are doing their part to look after the cave.
Lookout Mountain sits on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, which is on the most cave rich karst regions in America. Ruby Falls is just one of several caves to explore around Chattanooga. I added a link to our Chilling in Chattanooga Guide to Good Times to the bottom of this page in case you want to check out some of the wild cave tours in the region.
And now I’m interested in all things Tennessee because my son and his family just moved there. We’ll be visiting soon and can’t wait to begin exploring a state I’ve never been to yet! I enjoyed reading about Ruby Falls — its beauty and its history. Sounds like a great place to visit and a must-see.
I can’t wait to see what you think of Tennessee. It’s so different from the west coast and so beautiful too.