Qualla: Sinks of Gandy https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Sinks of Gandy https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy Sinks of Gandy: Introduction https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy/ Photo credit Pepperpancake, CC BY-SA 4.0. Gandy Creek does not flow over the ridge between Allegheny and Rich Mountains. It flows under it. For roughly 3,000 feet, the creek disappears into a low ledge of limestone in a wide meadow, travels through a passage that opens to 100 feet wide in places, and emerges on the other side of Randolph County Route 40, near a spur of Yokum Knob. The Sinks of Gandy are not the longest cave in West Virginia, nor the most decorated, nor the most famous. They are simply a place where a creek has been doing what creeks rarely do for at least the last few thousand years - taking a shortcut through a mountain.

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Image: Pepperpancake | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/dnzk-sinks-of-gandy-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Sinks of Gandy: How a Creek Goes Underground https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy/ Photo credit Reproduction, Public domain. The upstream entrance to the Sinks is about 30 feet wide and 15 feet high, set in the limestone wall of a depressed meadow. Inside, the passage runs straight enough that most visitors with simple household flashlights can navigate it. Ceilings vary from 4 to 35 feet. The main cor...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/dnzk-sinks-of-gandy-how-a-creek-goes-underground.mp3 0:06 2 full Sinks of Gandy: Uriah Gandy and the First Records https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy/ Photo credit Reproduction, Public domain. Gandy Creek - and through it, the Sinks - takes its name from Uriah Gandy (or Gandee), who settled in the area around 1781. Local farmers knew the cave well by the 1830s. The earliest recorded mention may be a November 1833 letter from Randolph County physician Benjamin Dolbeare ...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/dnzk-sinks-of-gandy-uriah-gandy-and-the-first-records.mp3 0:06 3 full Sinks of Gandy: A Civil War Shootout in the Dark https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy/ Photo credit Reproduction, Public domain. In March 1864, the Sinks hosted one of the war's more obscure encounters. Eight men from Confederate General John D. Imboden's command had been raiding wagon trains in the area. They crossed into Tucker County, robbed a general store about three miles from Saint George, and start...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/dnzk-sinks-of-gandy-a-civil-war-shootout-in-the-dark.mp3 0:06 4 full Sinks of Gandy: Strother's Tunnel and Preble's Pamphlets https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy/ Photo credit Reproduction, Public domain. The Sinks first reached a national audience through a magazine piece. David Hunter Strother, the West Virginia-born writer and illustrator who worked for Harper's Magazine, published 'The Mountains' in 1872 and 1873, based on a visit he had made around 1854. The story followed a ...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/dnzk-sinks-of-gandy-strothers-tunnel-and-prebles-pamphlets.mp3 0:06 5 full Sinks of Gandy: Surveyed, Then Resurveyed https://qualla.com/sinks-of-gandy/ Photo credit Reproduction, Public domain. The National Speleological Society first formally surveyed and mapped the Sinks on September 1, 1940, recording 3,056 feet of passage. A more thorough resurvey in 1990 added 5,058 more feet to the map for a total of 8,114 feet, making the Sinks the 669th longest surveyed cave in ...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/z/k/sinks-of-gandy-wp/dnzk-sinks-of-gandy-surveyed-then-resurveyed.mp3 0:06 6 full