Penns Cave

At the heart of this landmark Pennsylvania property stands the historic Penn’s Cave House, an impressive limestone building constructed in 1885 as a 30-room hotel. Still open and in use today, the Penn’s Cave House retains its original charm and historic character while accommodating corporate offices and private events. Both the Penn’s Cave House and Penn’s Cave are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, preserving an important connection to the property’s long history as a destination for generations of visitors.
Surrounding the historic Cave House, the Penn’s Cave property encompasses approximately 1,400+ acres and presents an extraordinary opportunity to acquire 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.
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 Penn’s Cave, an approximately quarter-mile-long limestone cavern estimated to be 30 million years old. For generations, guests have boarded 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.
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 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 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 welcoming approximately 75,000 tourists annually from all 50 states and countries throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa, including bus tours and school groups. The property also draws significant traffic from Penn State University visitors, with the campus approximately 25 miles away.
The assemblage comprises 17 parcels and 9 habitable structures, including Penn’s Cave House, a camp, renovated pilot’s lounge, three owner residences and three rental homes with month-to-month leases. Among its most important features are abundant and carefully preserved natural resources. 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.