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170 PAGES - PERFECT BOUND - GLOSSY FULL COLOR VINTAGE & MODERN PHOTOGRAPHS

Author Forest K. Fisher recalls in the Author's Preface:

    I spent three of my earliest Christmas mornings awakening there (at Alexander Caverns Manager's House), eager to discover what Santa delivered the previous night. Three birthdays and umpteen family gatherings and picnics, happened there, all on the grounds of Alexander Caverns. I was privy at this young age to the ins and outs of operating a commercial cave, not that I paid one iota of attention to that at all, too young, and having too much fun being the only grandchild of many attentive elders.

    My Kepler grandparents operated the cave business and their studio in Lewistown with Grandpa’s brother, James Kepler. Grandpa Kepler was the Director of Photography for the Pennsylvania Department of Highways over these years.  My parents served as caretakers, though Dad worked in Harrisburg through the week, and Mom and Gram Kepler were around to take visitors on cave tours during the open season, and both worked at the Kepler Studio, as well. Theo Fox of Lewistown, another artist and photographer, also worked there.  Theo and Mom served as models in cave promos.

    My Mom established her painting studio at the Cave House, where she began her artistic career portraying the Old School Amish of Mifflin County, a subject she pursued until her death in 1977. Her first oils were painted at the Cave House.

    Life there ended in late 1953 when the 25 year lease on the caverns operation lapsed, without renewal by the Alexander owners at the time. The property changed hands, and we moved over the hill to my grandparents’ home. Within a year or two Dad finished constructing our own home on ground near Gram and Grandpa Kepler’s house.

    All through my growing up years the memories of the life and times of Alexander Caverns were ever present. Home movies cranked out the underground wonders of the cave on a screen in the living room for visitors or family. Artifacts of those years, from souvenirs to photographs, persisted in my grandparents’ household.  Family conversations often revolved around events and happenings there. 

    History IS our story, a story we must pass on. That’s our responsibility.

    So I did just that, telling many cave stories to my students during a teaching career at Armagh and Brown Township Elementary Schools. One such tale was the mysterious footstep sounds from a person who wasn’t there, deep down in Alexander Caverns. One student was so impressed by the spooky nature of the tale, that he created a graphic mini-novel of the event. (It’s elsewhere in this book.)

    Our longtime friend and neighbor, William J. “Bill” Phillips, Sr., is perhaps my last close connection to Alexander Caverns.  His parents, H. Brown and Bella Phillips, cared for Lillie Alexander Close McClenahen and second husband George in their final years, among the last surviving Alexanders. The Phillips family lived next door and served as caregivers.  Bill has encouraged me to write this story for many years now, and provided a wealth of pictorial gems relating to Alexander Caverns never publicly seen before. Bill, at age 91, reminds me he’s not getting any younger!

    So when it is all said and done, it’s time to recount this piece of local history.  Enjoy the story of Alexander Caverns, Mifflin County’s Once Spectacular Show Cave.

    Forest K. Fisher 

    Fall 2022 

Published by

MIFFLIN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1 WEST MARKET STREET, LEWISTOWN, PA  17044

OFFICE: 717-242-1022   EMAIL: [email protected]