Wonderland Cave waiting for investors
Although their business plan is now five years old, owners of The Wonderland Cave LLC are still working to reopen the cave with added attractions above ground.
But they haven’t yet found the funding.
The cave, on the east side of Bella Vista, not far from Cooper Elementary School, adds a colorful flair to Bella Vista’s history.
Back when Bella Vista was a summer resort, developer C.A. Linebarger visited an underground nightclub in Paris and thought about the cave locally known as “The Big Cave,” according to information published on the Rogers Historical Museum website. He returned home and opened a nightclub in Wonderland Cave in 1930.
The nightclub operated successfully for years.
When the Linebargers sold the resort to E.L. Keith in 1952, the cave wasn’t included. By then the nightclub was closed, but the cave was open for tours, according to Gilbert Fite’s history of Bella Vista, “From Vision to Reality.”
Sometime in the 1960s, barrels of fresh water and other supplies were stored in the cave after it was designated as a nuclear fallout shelter.
In 1965, Cooper Communities Inc. leased the cave from the Linebargers and the newly formed POA used it for special events. It was opened as a nightclub in the late 1980s.
In the 1990s, a developer bought both Wonderland Cave and the Sunset Hotel, which was located just off U.S. 71. The plan was to connect the two with a gondola that stretched over the highway. But in 1999, the hotel burned down due to arson. In 2004, both properties were set to be auctioned. When no one bid on the cave, ownership passed to Jan Edwards, who had loaned money for the project.
In 2012, Edwards and her business partner, Mary Miller, developed the business plan for a “family friendly, educational tour spot.”
In a 2012 interview, Miller told The Weekly Vista that there would be two restaurants, one with a full menu and one more like a snack bar. There would also be a petting zoo, a miniature golf course and a water feature — probably like a splash park. Parking will be on the hill above the cave.
The idea, she said, is for families to be able to spend a day on the property.
Since then, the pair has added a new component to their plan. Edwards owns property near the new highway on the west side of Bella Vista that she would like to turn into a luxury RV park. That way visitors to the cave would have a place to stay.
The whole city would benefit from tourists, Miller pointed out. It would mean more income for other businesses.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville is already bringing thousands of visitors to Northwest Arkansas and attractions in Bella Vista may bring some of those tourists north.
Recently, Miller said that while they’ve heard from many interested people, they haven’t reached the goal of $2.5 million.
In 2012, cleanup work on the cave began with a volunteer work day that included 50 volunteers. Most of what they cleaned up was leftovers from years of trespassers — including hundreds of beer cans and broken bottles.
Nick and Melissa Kendus, who live just over the state line in Missouri, started out as volunteers in October 2012, although later Miller and Edwards paid them for their work.
Nick Kendus said removing the underbrush to uncover the entrance to the cave was like uncovering history. Eventually they removed the old restroom fixtures and some of the Civil Defense barrels. They also cleaned up decades of graffiti.
They worked at the cave for almost two years, Kendus said, and, in between projects, they explored the rest of the cave. They found an underground river and lake, and saw crystals that took their breath away.
But it was almost impossible to keep people out of the cave, Miller said, and the vandalism was expensive to repair. She asked Kendus to remove the remnants of the old caretakers home so the cave entrance would be visible from the road.
Then she added steel slabs secured with nineinch bolts to close off the entrance. When someone used a blow torch to cut the bolts, she replaced them with longer bolts.
She said she’s heard a lot of criticism about the wildlife being locked inside, but that was never a problem. There have always been many ways for bats and other small animals to get in and out of the cave, she said, but she left a small opening at the former door just in case.
For now the cave is secured and waiting for an investor who wants to help Edwards and Miller add a new attraction in Bella Vista.