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 Alabaster Caverns State Park - Freedom, OK Posted by:  The Snowdog
N 36° 41.875 W 099° 08.865
14S E 486801 N 4061372
Alabaster Caverns State Park, home to the largest publicly-accessible gypsum cave in the world, is south of Freedom, Oklahoma.
Waymark Code: WM15AFH
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 11/22/2021
Views: 1
Alabaster Caverns hosts the largest gypsum cave open to the public in the world. Five types of alabaster are found here, including the very rare "black" alabaster, found only in three places in the world. The cave is also home to five species of bats. Guided tours of the caverns leave the Visitors Center every hour on the hour. Additional activities include camping, recreational activities, and (with the appropriate permit) wild caving.
Park Type: State Park - tours daily, overnight camping permitted
Activities:
Guided tour of Alabaster Caverns (tickets purchased at Visitors Center)
Museum (free, in the Visitors Center)
Hiking, Birding, Spelunking, Free Caving (may require permit)
Park Fees:
Cavern Tour: $10 (discounts for seniors, veterans, and children)
Overnight Camping Fees and free-caving permits: inquire at Visitors Center
Background:
During much of geologic time, this part of North America was at the bottom of shallow seas. About two hundred million years ago, the "Western Interior Seaway" divided North America into two sub-continents, Laramidia to the west (where the Rocky Mountains were forming) and Appalachia to the east. As these waters ebbed and flowed, huge deposits of minerals were left behind. Over time, upheavals of the Earth raised the resulting gypsum bed close to the surface, and water tunneled through the soft rock to create these caverns.
There is no record of the discovery of the caverns. There is evidence that they were at least visited by Native American tribes in the area. The first document exploration was in 1898, shortly after Hugh Litton established his homestead in the area. The names of many early explorers can be seen today, carved into the rock inside the cavern. For a time the caves were mined for bat guano, which was valued as an ingredient in fertilizer. The State of Oklahoma purchased the land in 1953 and created the State Park in 1956.
Date Established?: 1956
Link to Park: [Web Link]
Additional Entrance Points: N 36° 41.775 W 099° 09.415
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