NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. — The Natural Bridge Caverns, a popular tourist destination that attracts visitors worldwide, is temporarily closed for renovations now that it is a Virginia state park.
Natural Bridge State Park acquired the caverns on Oct. 18, 2024, from the American Conservation Legacy Fund.
"The cave needs to heal. It's a good time for it to be asleep and let nature take its course and redo what's been undone," park said Jim Jones told WDBJ.
The closure allows for necessary improvements after 50 years of continuous tours. Park officials are working with cave ecology experts and engineers to preserve the cavern's unique ecosystem.
"The reason being is it fits so nice with our mission and with VCR's mission of conservation and recreation and what we do protecting some of the most natural resources in Virginia," Jones said.
Visitors currently will only see construction equipment and landscape cleanup at the site. The renovations include addressing safety concerns inside the caverns.
"The electricity inside and some of the railings are unsafe," Jones said. "They need to be replaced with probably friendlier and more environmentally sensitive things."
Thomas Jefferson “discovered” and purchased the natural landmark from the King of England in 1774, according to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
State tourism officials described Natural Bridge as so much "more than just the bridge" with "beautiful forests, open, rolling meadows... and vistas of surrounding mountains and the James River valley display nature’s splendor."
While no official reopening date has been announced, park rangers are developing plans to enhance the visitor experience with educational programs once renovations are complete.
"We'll be able to have park rangers take guided tours and give educational programs on karst and cave ecology and sort of let people see what a natural cave looks like and give them a greater and deeper appreciation on what we have here," Jones said. "A lot of our groundwater and a lot of what we drink comes through the karst topography we have."
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