Until 1994, when Cherokee
Village incorporated, Cave City's 1,500 population made it the largest of
Sharp County's towns.
Established in 1880 as the town of Loyal, the town changed its name ten
years later to the present Cave City.
The town sits above the
Crystal River. The river is accessible only through a cave located near the
town's center. Source and destination of the river are unknown, but water
levels rise and fall in synchronization with the Mississippi River, a
distance of 150 miles away. The only inhabitants of the ice cold water,
which seems to have no current, are eyeless fish. They appear to be
'suckers' that, after thousands of years of total darkness, have lost all
indications of eyes.
An annual weeklong town festival, every August, celebrates one of Cave
City's finest products, "The Worlds Sweetest Watermelons." The melons are
shipped throughout the south.
The town sits above the
Crystal River. The river is accessible only through a cave located near the
town's center. Source and destination of the river are unknown, but water
levels rise and fall in synchronization with the Mississippi River, a
distance of 150 miles away. The only inhabitants of the ice cold water,
which seems to have no current, are eyeless fish. They appear to be
'suckers' that, after thousands of years of total darkness, have lost all
indications of eyes.