Visiting The Lost Sea Adventure in Sweetwater, TN

We’ve had the opportunity to visit a lot of really cool caverns over the course of the road trip so far, so when we heard about the US’s largest (and the world’s second largest) underground lake in Tennessee, we added it to the list.

There aren’t as many rock formations in The Lost Sea Adventure as other caverns we’ve visited, so if you want a ton of formations this might not be the cavern for you. But, The Lost Sea itself was definitely worth the visit.

You start your tour by heading down into the cavern. You move through a variety of spaces and see some formations, but the main cavern is very large and open without as many stalactites and stalagmites as you see in other caverns.

One cool thing was the existence of “cave flowers,” a rare cave formation which they do have, along with old supplies left over from the cold war. There’s more of the cavern to see too if you book a Wild Caves tour.

Eventually you end up at the edge of The Lost Sea. You board a boat and ride across part of the lake. It’s dark and peaceful with fish below. They were originally added to the water to see if they could find a way out. Unfortunately it was just too dark and they didn’t venture very far, so they’re fed and cared for.

One of the coolest bits of information is that The Lost Sea was discovered originally by a 12 year old boy. No one believed him and The Lost Sea remained lost below the surface. Eventually, it was rediscovered and he was honored with his discovery.

Below is a formation you see at the end of the tour called “bear claw” for obvious reasons. It’s the only formation you can touch in the cavern.

Sweetwater

When you finish at the cavern (or before if you visit it in the morning), I recommend stopping by the adorable town of Sweetwater. We were advised to have lunch at the local Italian restaurant, Vittorino’s, by one of the guides at The Lost Sea and we weren’t disappointed. And you know how we love our food!

We’d also recommend dropping in to the newly opened (October 2019) Sweetwater General. It’s not a typical general store but a fun, kitschy shop with a lot of great things to buy. Support a small local business and restaurant in Sweetwater after seeing The Lost Sea – it makes a really fun day only an hour from Knoxville.