Longtime owners of Laurel Caverns trust Pa. to take care of natural attraction

PITTSBURGH - If not for David Cale's love of science, Laurel Caverns could have easily been wiped out and exploited for the very rock - limestone - that is partly responsible for the caverns' celebrated formations.

Cale recently donated Laurel Caverns in Farmington, Fayette County, to become the 125th state park and Pennsylvania's first subterranean park.

Three generations of his family have owned or been involved with this "geological wonderland" for a century.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn and other officials lauded Cale during a grand opening celebration on Monday.

The donation preserves the caverns for future generations, a lifetime goal of Cale, 80, of Uniontown.

"Your responsibility is not explicit for making money but to preserve it and use it for the public in a way that doesn't destroy it," he said earlier this month.

Cale has managed Laurel Caverns as a popular tourist destination and educational and caving site for decades. He discovered and shoveled his way through sand and sometimes clay to add to its 4 miles of passageways.

His grandfather Norman Cale bought the site in 1926. Although he later sold it, Cale bought it back and founded the Laurel Caverns Conservancy, which will still operate tours of the site.

As president of the conservancy, he plans to continue leading tours as he has done since 1964, making him part of Laurel Caverns history.

He met his wife, Lillian Gangwere, when she and her eighth grade class toured Laurel Caverns. After they married in 1977, Cale designed and built what he believes is the first home in the country to be built using the metric system.

Perched above the visitors center, the "Cale Chalet" offered an expansive view of the Laurel Highlands. But it was very isolated, he said.

"One year when the mountain was snowed in, my poor wife was in that house for three to four days."

He also thought that the home's appearance from Route 43 interrupted the mountain view of Chestnut Ridge. So he razed the house in 1997 but left a remnant of its facade that is still visible today.

Other touches of the Cale family are present on the grounds, including the ashes of his grandfather Norman Cale.

The cave has been known since at least the 1700s; Native Americans used sites near the caverns. Previously known as Delaney's Cave, the site has attracted tourists by horse, train and automobile.

Cale has been involved in many facets of Laurel Caverns, from exploring to digging tunnels to persuading his grandfather to change the name. He first explored it alone when he was 6 or 7 years old.

"It was not religious, but I had a kind of communication with the cave. I thought, ‘I got to look after you and make sure that you are safe,' " he said.

Forced to deal with litter and damage left by unauthorized visitors, Cale and his grandfather knew that it needed to be protected for future generations. They decided to start holding public tours.

He was a freshman at Concord University in West Virginia when the tours began in July 1964.

He constructed its first sign for the caverns, mimicking one at Pinnacle Rock State Park in southern West Virginia.

His grandfather, an accountant, wanted to spend no more than $160 on the sign. For $10, Cale said he would build one out of logs, using a stencil and a screwdriver as a chisel to carve the letters.

Cale chortles when telling the story about his grandfather's reluctant acceptance. "I suppose it will do until we can get a good one," he told his grandson.

The sign stayed up for four years, Cale said proudly.

Around that same time, he was also a young spelunker. In 1963, Cale said he found what is officially known as Cale's Pit by the West Virginia geological survey.

He found a sinkhole on a West Virginia farm that he believed led to a cave.

"It was the dumbest moment of my life," Cale said.

He brought two carloads of college friends to the farm, who lowered him into the hole by a rope.

"I have a lousy sense of fear," he said.

After descending about 80 feet to the bottom, Cale found nothing but skeletons and turtle shells of the poor animals that fell into the pit. That is what it was: a natural well that went nowhere.

He discovered an unusual geological formation, a dome pit, also known as a vertical cave. The local fire department was called to retrieve him from the hole.

"The farmer was mad as heck, and they pulled me up like a piece of meat on a string," Cale said.

"I was humiliated because I told my friends that I had found a big cave."

The blowback didn't last long: Cale forged alliances with some caving groups that would help him dig out more passageways and rooms at Laurel Caverns.

Throughout his life, Cale was inspired by his love of science and Laurel Caverns.

One grandfather owned Laurel Caverns, while another served as a structural engineer on the design for nuclear reactors in submarines.

"I spent a summer where I got to meet nuclear physicists. That was an entirely new world for me with math. I loved physics and became addicted to math."

For Cale, Laurel Caverns served as a lab. He learned geology while digging in the caverns when he was about 15.

He retired several years ago as a West Virginia University professor teaching a range of courses, including philosophy and ethics.

He earned a doctorate and master's degree in philosophy from Duquesne University, an MBA from Wheeling Jesuit University, and a bachelor's degree in political science from California University of Pennsylvania.

He has authored many books, including "How to Create a Policy Manual for Your Life," "The Kantian Element in the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics," "The Basics of Consequentialism" and "The Old Man's Cave."

When walking in the caverns, he will say, "This passage did not exist. There was a stream coming out of here."

He has moved the stream that runs through the site. He follows the joint lines in the rocks while digging new passages, he said.

There have been some interesting trials and errors.

Decades ago, when Cale was following joint lines and digging to open new passages in his free time, he decided to buy a used fire truck. Blasting water through 2,000 feet of hose would quickly flush the sand from passages and other areas of the cave, he thought.

After 20 minutes of blasting away sand, one of Cale's staffers unexpectedly broke through to an unknown part of the cave. Clad in a white shirt and tie, Cale jumped right in and crawled through the muck, finding a new passage with a "lot of cave to it," he said.

"To see a part of the world that a human being had never seen before is a great experience."

If Cale had his way and more time, he'd still be digging in those caverns.

"If we could get all the sand out, we could have 20 miles of passages," he said.

With the state preserving the site, Cale's dream might come true someday.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 5:38 AM.