A landmark destination in the heart of Pennsylvania, the Penn’s Cave property offers an extraordinary opportunity to acquire approximately 1,400 acres encompassing a renowned natural attraction, operating tourism business, working Century Farm, wildlife park, multiple residences, rental homes, farmland, historic resources and opportunities for hunting and fishing.
Upon arrival, guests pass the historic Penn’s Cave House. Orginally built in 1885 as a 30-room hotel, the building now accommodates corporate offices and private events. Nearby, the Penn’s Cave Visitor Center, opened in 1980, houses a large gift shop, café and ticket counter. From here, a pathway leads visitors to the entrance of Penn’s Cave.
Estimated to be 30 million years old, Penn’s Cave is an approximately quarter-mile-long limestone cavern. For generations, the business has welcomed guests aboard guided boat tours through its waterways and remarkable formations, including stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flowstone and soda straws. The cavern reaches 55 feet at its highest point and remains a constant 52 degrees year-round. Both the cavern and Penn’s Cave House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Penn’s Cave contains one main spring, while two additional springs are located within Lake Nitanee. The water source within the cave alone contributes approximately 8–11 million gallons of water daily and is the headwater to Penns Creek. The manmade Lake Nitanee’s dam regulates the cavern’s water level, while Lake Nitanee and Penns Creek offer premier trout fishing.
Also located within the property is Penn’s Cave Farm, which received the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Century Farm Award in 2008. The nearly 308-acre Farm and Wildlife Park offers guided tours through fields, pastures, forests and mountain terrain. Guests can view bison, Texas Longhorn cattle, elk, wolves, mountain lions, wild horses, burros and other animals, while carefully preserved habitats support additional abundant native wildlife.
Additional attractions include a miner’s maze, gemstone panning, picnic grounds and off-road mountain tours. The estate’s waterways, forests and expansive acreage provide further opportunities for fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation.
Pilots and their passengers may arrive through Penn’s Cave Airport, an FAA-designated private fly-in facility featuring an approximately 2,500-by-40-foot asphalt runway within walking distance of the Visitor Center. The unmanned airport also includes two hangars currently used for maintenance and storage.
Penn’s Cave, Inc. is a turn-key business with approximately 75,000 tourists annually from all 50 states, Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa including bus tour groups and school groups and high traffic from Penn State University visitors as the campus is just 25 miles away.
The assemblage comprises 17 parcels and 9 habitable structures, including Penn’s Cave House, a camp, a renovated pilot’s lounge, three owner residences and three rental homes with month-to-month leases.
Among the property’s most important features are its abundant and carefully preserved natural resources. Representing one of Pennsylvania’s most significant privately held headwater landscapes, the estate encompasses the source and upper tributaries of Penns Creek, a Class A wild trout stream and major tributary of the Susquehanna River.
Conservation initiatives include providing homes for wild horses and burros through Gentled Hearts Stable, welcoming a rehabilitated gray fox through Centre Wildlife Care and supporting the Wildlife for Everyone Foundation’s habitat and conservation work across Pennsylvania.
This is a rare opportunity to acquire and steward one of Pennsylvania’s most celebrated destinations while carrying its remarkable legacy into the future.