Sanders Cave, Conecuh Co., AL ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with the USGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. ALGenWeb State Archivist - Lygia Dawkins Cutts ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributed by Lygia Dawkins Cutts AUG 1998 SANDERS CAVE I am stepping over the county line just wee bit this month to tell you about a place most everyone in this area has heard of at some point in their life. Sanders Cave is located in the Brooklyn community in Conecuh County, AL. To get there...well...you just have to have someone take you that knows the way! The cave is located close by the side of a branch and the mouth opens into the side of a lime rock ridge and has a slight oval shape. The face of the entrance is covered with names, intials, and dates carved into the rock. From the entrance the floor slopes downward for about twenty feet before leveling off into a large room. There are large rock formations with icecycles hanging down from the top in places. The cave is always the same temperature and the air is cold and damp, and the lime rock floor is slippery. The cave is narrow with low ceilings in some places, while widening with high ceilings in others.There is a hole at the top of cave resembling a skylight. It is beleived to be the entrance used by the robber, Joseph Thompson Hare. The present entrance was opened years later. Joseph Thompson Hare was born in 1780 in Pennsylvania and became a robber in his teenage years. He organized a robber gang around 1801 in New Orleans and they robbed overland travelers from New Orleans to Pensacola up to Canada. Hare was hanged in 1818 in Baltimore, MD for robbing a U.S. Mail Coach. It is said that he used Sanders Cave and buried gold there. Other stories about the cave include - Jesse James and Rube Barrows used the cave; that it has no end; that an underground river once flowed through it; and that it leads to the Sepulga River. Sanders Cave is just one of the many interesting points of interest in this area. Still today, kids talk about going to the cave and exploring......most may go looking but can't find the location. Like I said earlier...it is hard to locate! SOURCE:Alabama Room, JDCC Community College Library: Vertical File: Sanders Cave:newspaper clipping from the Brewton Standard dated June 1, 1967