Friends of the Oregon Caves & Chateau

09/13/2026

Sorry Friends! EVENT was cancelled by NPS.

Come up to the Oregon Caves Visitor Center tonight, starting at 6:30 PM for the last opportunity to experience
Bat Capture 2026 with the experts!

Light refreshments will be available, thanks to Travel Oregon!😊

19000 Caves Highway, Cave Junction...
Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve

09/02/2026

Great story! Thanks.

A lost dog named Bruno may be the reason Oregon has a national monument at all. 🐾

In 1874, a young hunter named Elijah Davidson chased his dog into a dark opening in the hills above the Illinois Valley after Bruno went after a bear. What Davidson found deep inside was a twisting maze of marble passages unlike anything else in the state, carved slowly over millions of years by acidic water working its way through ancient limestone that had been squeezed and heated into marble. Word spread slowly at first. For the next four decades, fewer than a thousand people a year ever made the trip out to see it.

That changed in 1909, when President William Howard Taft set aside 480 acres to protect the caves, making it one of the very first national monuments created under the new Antiquities Act. Poet Joaquin Miller gave the place its lasting nickname, the Marble Halls of Oregon, and it stuck. 🏔️

Then in 1934, the Oregon Caves Company raised a six story wooden Chateau right into the mouth of the canyon above the cave entrance, so cleverly built that a mountain stream still runs straight through the dining room. A guest who visited in 1938 was so taken with the place that he went home and finished inventing the View-Master.

Most people driving Highway 199 have no idea a cave discovered by a runaway dog is sitting in the hills above them right now.

Have you ever taken the tour through the Marble Halls, or is Oregon Caves still on your list?

08/22/2026

This week we ask for your feedback and your help! Please take our short survey! We look forward to hearing your thoughts as we move foreward in this work. You can read the whole newsletter for this week at

https://conta.cc/4c4OahBx

08/22/2026

Save the Date and plan to join our local experts at the Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserves August 30th and September 13th to learn about the many kinds of bats that call our park home. You'll see our experts capture and study a variety of bat species as well! There will be a short presentation outlining bat facts and the work NPS does at the caves.

We are meeting at the Oregon Caves Visitor Center 19000 Caves Highway.

Visitors are welcome to come and go as they please, but the events will start around 6:30pm with bat capture ending around midnight. Be sure to dress for cool weather, bring a flashlight or headlamp, we're excited to see you there!

08/06/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19Fkttqd5Y/

08/03/2026

Stay up to date with all the News at the Oregon Caves & Chateau! Subscribe to our Newsletter... http://newsletter.friendsocac.org

08/03/2026

Beautiful Dark Sky opportunities at the Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve!

08/02/2026

Cottages, tales by firelight, and 100-year-old furniture. 🏔️🔥

Long before the Oregon Caves Chateau opened its doors, a small company was already building the story: the rustic Chalet, guest cottages, and nightly campfires that turned a rugged cave trail into a beloved Oregon destination.

Today, that same spirit lives on in the Chateau's restoration, including its one-of-a-kind collection of 240 hand-painted Monterey furniture pieces, the largest public collection of its kind in the country.

Local craftsman Ken Aguilar KA Designs and Monterey specialist Ramon Ramirez are giving these century-old beds new life, built to serve guests for another 89 years.Swipe through to see the history and the hands-on work happening right now. 👉Support the restoration: link in bio.