The cave served as the late Bill Vananda's playground when he was growing up in the Dry Valley area of Townsend. From the time he was 4 years old, Bill would spend time exploring the underground wonder. When he reached adulthood, he decided he wanted to open the cave commercially. He hooked up with a partner, Harry Myers, and the two set out to improve upon what nature had already provided.

As popularity of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park soared, so did that of the caverns. Money that was made from the cave was sunk back into the venture.

In 1982, Bill Vananda bought out Myers and became the sole owner of Tuckaleechee Caverns. Steve Vananda has worked at the caverns off and on since 1965.

Tuckaleechee Caverns is rated as a Class B cave by the National Cave Association, drawing up to 100,000 visitors a year. A one-mile trip takes visitors through the cool, damp cave. They file past formations that have been there for thousands of years.

As visitors tour the quiet underground attraction, they can hear calcite dripping from the stalactites. They look on in amazement at the formations jutting from the floor and ceiling of the cave -- rock and crystal formations that are illuminated to create a fairyland atmosphere.

Visitors to Townsend and the national park frequently make the caverns, which are open to the public from March 15 to Nov. 15, a stop on their journey, and school groups from all over the country and from Canada use the cave as an underground classroom.

"I think it's a good cave," Steve Vananda said. "I've been through caves all over the country, and have only seen two that are comparable."