Birmingham Complimentary Bonus Program

Open to the Public - A Great Way to Share OLLI at UA with a Friend! Tuesday - Homewood Library, 1721 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, and Wednesday - Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest, 1221 Montgomery Highway, Vestavia Hills.

Share OLLI at UA with a Friend!

Complimentary Bonus Programs Open to the Public – A Great Way to Share OLLI at UA with a Friend!

Tuesday – Homewood Library, 1721 Oxmoor Road, Homewood

Wednesday – Vest Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest, 1221 Montgomery Highway, Vestavia Hills

BHM 123 Manitou Cave of Alabama: A Living Natural Museum and a Walk-Through Time

Wednesday, Feb. 15

Local Expert 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest, 1221

Montgomery Highway, Vestavia Hills

Manitou Cave is a 320-million-year-old Alabama treasure with a long and varied geological, biological, archaeological, cultural, and historical significance. The cave was an underground ceremonial location for the Cherokee in the early 1800s before their forced removal on the Trail of Tears, a saltpeter mine during the 1860s, one of the first tourist attractions in Alabama in the 1880s, a Cold War fall-out shelter and more. After interstate I-59 opened, travelers bypassed Fort Payne, where the cave is located, and Manitou Cave tourism declined. Manitou Cave closed in 1979 and remained abandoned for the next forty years. In 2016, Manitou Cave of Alabama, a not-for-profit organization, was formed and has restored and revitalized the vandalized cave, the overgrown property, and the derelict historic midcentury modern visitor center. The cave received international recognition because of recent research and discoveries, and in 2021, MCAL was designated as a certified NPS Trail of Tears National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. More of the discoveries and history of this unique Alabama treasure.