Skyline Caverns cave formations, Front Royal, Virginia

Card type: Printed photo
Date: c. 1915 (White Border)

Back of Skyline Caverns cave formations, Front Royal, Virginia, c. 1915 printed photo postcard — Back

About this postcard

The picture is a close-up of pale, needle-like cave formations against a dark background, captioned "SKYLINE CAVERNS, Front Royal, Va." Skyline Caverns, opened to the public in 1939 near Front Royal in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, is known for delicate anthodites—rare crystalline cave formations sometimes called cave flowers. The card presents the formations as a tourist curiosity.

Postcard Details

Message

No message detected

SKYLINE CAVERNS, Front Royal, Va. --- ANTHODITES "The Orchid of the Mineral Kingdom" Strange and beautiful flower-like calcite formations, lately discovered in the SKYLINE CAVERNS at Front Royal, Virginia, are attracting tourists and geologists throughout the United States and foreign countries. Reducing the scientific terms used by the scientists to everyday language, we arrive at the following theory: 1—Appearance: flower-like 2—Greek name: anthodites 3—Composition: Calcite 4—Growths: capillary 5—Texture: crystalline 6—Place of growth: sealed in domes 7—Condition of growth: partial vacuum 8—Amount: profusion 9—Age: unknown The late Dr. R. J. Holden, Professor of Geology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, after spending many days in exploring the caverns, said: "These weird, fantastic, and pallid forms warp scientific judgment. One stares in amazement and hesitates to believe that nature has wrought such inconceivable structures." To see these flowers and the Painted Desert, Cascading Water Falls, The Shrine, Capitol Dome, Fairyland Lake, The Cathedral Hall, Mysterious Streams, and giant-like Stalactites and Stalagmites you should visit Virginia's Famous Skyline Caverns located but a few hundred yards from the Northern Entrance to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park at Front Royal, Virginia. Walter S. Amos Discoverer and Curator SKYLINE CAVERNS

Addressed to

No address detected

Postcard record

Condition	Very good
Place depicted	Skyline Caverns, Front Royal, VA
Place mentioned	Skyline Caverns, Front Royal, VA
Place mentioned	Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA
Notes	White border; black-and-white halftone print; minor edge wear. No postmark, stamp, or handwriting anywhere on this side — the entire back is printed descriptive text (green ink) about the anthodites of Skyline Caverns. Cream/matte stock with light toning and a few soft corner creases; front carries a white border and a coarse halftone photo. No government postal imprint, so no card_type assigned.

Cite this card

Skyline Caverns cave formations, Front Royal, Virginia, postcard, c. 1915. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/skyline-caverns-cave-formations-front-royal-virginia. Accessed October 24, 2026.