I Spent my 25th Wedding Anniversary in a Cave

My wife and I had originally planned to spend our 25th wedding anniversary on a cruise to Alaska. Then COVID happened, and that got cancelled. Instead, Susan told me we would be spending our anniversary in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We didn’t. The night before we planned to leave, Susan confessed that we would not be spending our anniversary in Eureka Springs. We would be spending it in a cave.

The Beckham Creek Cave House is located on the outskirts of Parthenon, Arkansas. When I say “outskirts,” I mean both our GPS and cell phones stopped working half an hour before we arrived. The last twenty minutes of the trip took place on gravel and dirt “roads”, with instructions that included “hang a right at the fork where the row of mailboxes are” and “turn right where it looks like the road ends, just before the Buddhist Monastery.” It was a bumpy and occasionally scary drive that had all of us asking “are we there yet?”, but once you arrive, there is no questioning that you are in the right place.

According to the caretakers (cavetakers?), the Beckham Creek Cave House has had a few lives. It started out as a privately owned bomb shelter in the 1980s before being converted into a remote getaway (Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Elizabeth Taylor all partied there). Over the past few years the dwelling was purchased, received a million dollar face lift, and turned into “the world’s most luxurious cave lodge.”

The lodge is just over 5,500 square feet in size and contains four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. There’s another bed just outside the master bedroom, and a couple of twin beds perched up on a loft that overlooks the main room. Renting the lodge isn’t cheap (the nightly rate has a comma in the price…), but splitting the cost six ways would bring each couple’s cost down to the price of a high end hotel room. We didn’t do that (it was our anniversary!), but I could definitely see going back and having some of our friends join us.

The lodge is so large that some areas are difficult to photograph. The main room contains a bar on the left side of the room, a round dining table, and a round bar with high chairs that wraps around the table. To the right is a seating area in front of an 80″ television that somehow looks small in the room. Although the lodge officially has sleeping arrangements for twelve (a few more if people wanted to sleep on chaise lounge chairs or couches), the main room could easily hold a hundred people or more and not feel crowded.

The bedroom closest to the front looks out into a hallway that has windows to the outside — the “claustrophobic’s room,” we were told, although nobody with claustrophobia should visit. The rest of the downstairs bedrooms are found down a long hallway. Each room has a lockable sliding pocket door, a private bathroom, and cave walls.

Upstairs consists of three areas. There’s a sitting area with a couple of chairs, for, you know, cave chats. Next is the round bed, snuggled underneath a collection of stalactites. The bed has no headboard; instead, behind your head is an opening in the cave wall. I suspect this room is probably the most polarizing; people will either fight to sleep here, or fight not to.

Just past this bed is the master suite, where Susan and I slept. In this room, you are far from a working WiFi signal (or natural lighting). The room is illuminated by rope LED lighting and light bulbs tucked into overhead crevices (I made sure my phone was charged, “just in case”). Off the master suite is a toilet and a shower with a rainfall shower head jutting out next to the cave’s walls. It is as close as I will ever come to showering inside a cave.

Because of the size of the room we didn’t feel too claustrophobic, although in full disclosure it was pretty easy to touch parts of the cave ceiling above our bed while laying down. Of all the famous people who have visited and stayed in the cave, I’m guessing not many of them were basketball players.

One of my favorite parts of the cave lodge was the living room area, which had a massive natural formation off to the side. The cave is fed by a natural spring (which provides all the water to the lodge) and forms a natural waterfall, running down onto this formation before being funneled outside. Listening to it is very calming and very peaceful. It also made me have to pee a lot.

Another spot I enjoyed was the loft that overlooked the main room. Along with two twin beds there was a lounge chair up there next to a window that was perfect for reading.

On the morning of our anniversary, Susan cooked breakfast and the two of us ate outside on a deck that overlooked a natural spring. A few feet away sat a fire pit, where the night before we had toasted marshmallows. Susan saw three or four bats fly overhead, and I saw one early in the morning, leaving in search for some breakfast bugs. (The only wildlife we saw inside the cave itself was one horsefly and one locust, who Susan found catching a lift on my shirt.)

Before I knew it, we were already packing up the car and preparing to return home. I wish we could have stayed longer.

I couldn’t have imagined a more unique or magical place to celebrate twenty-five years of unique and magical marriage. It was a trip I’ll never forget! Happy anniversary, Susie Q! Here’s to another twenty-five years of fun antics and crazy adventures!