Underground Wonders

Meramec Caverns, the oldest attraction on Route 66, offers guided tours of the rarest and largest cave formations in the world.

Located in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, southwest of St. Louis, the cave sheltered Native American tribes and later provided minerals to French colonial miners. Civil War garrisons used the cave’s deposits to manufacture gunpowder, and outlaw Jesse James hid both men and horses in the cave’s dark passages in the 1870s. Legend also says the cave was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Adventure seekers can also explore nearby Onondaga Cave State Park or canoe along the scenic Meramec River and the crisp Huzzah and Courtois creeks.