Someone has recently raised a question regarding a cave reportedly located between Sunnyside and Fort Gay. I sent a request to Bill Wellman who grew up and attended and graduated from Fort Gay High School. Below is Bill’s answer. Thanks Bill for passing the information along.
“Yes, I recall there being a cave on Sunnyside Road near the Mill Creek bridge. It was east of the McClure family property. If you go to Bing Maps and look at Fort Gay, you can see an outcropping of dirt and rocks midway up the small hill adjacent to the railroad crossing going to the old McClure apple orchard. That was our access to the Old Rocks swimming area in the Tug River.
As I remember the cave, it was evident only as a very small hole about six feet wide and barely two feet high at the center of the access. There was a spill of small rocks and debris that appeared to have been ejected from the cave by an animal or person. That, to me, indicated that someone or some animal had continued to eject rocks and dirt debris from the cave in order to make it larger. I recall my brother Doug showing me cave along with some other guys, but can’t recall who else was there at the time. I visited the cave more than once but ventured inside the cave only on one occasion. It did not seem to be very large from my view and I felt very restricted in what movements I could make in the cave. I did not venture any further inside the cave so don’t know if there was a complex consisting of more ‘rooms’ or not. At the time, I felt like I was intruding on some animal’s home/nest and did not feel comfortable at all, especially since I had to crawl on hands and knees to gain access.
I just tried to send a photo of the Bing Map to myself and it didn’t work but you can call it up and see the area devoid of trees and brush that, to me, marks the area of the cave. The location is listed as Lat 38.11270 X Long-82.588013”
Bill W
The Viking Chronicles 