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The Cave Project was my very first assignment upon arriving to the Garden in Pawling. The base of the cave walls are natural rock set in place to form the chambers and the top half of the rock walls are finished with a rebar and hardware screen cage covered in concrete and faux finished to seamlesly join with the natural rock and tie in to the beam and plank ceiling. The cave floor is crushed rock and hides a recirculating pool that feeds a hidden waterfall. It took myself with a crew of 3 to build out the cavern in just short of three months.

The owner wanted it hidden, so I hid the entrance so well that none of the family found it for nearly three years. The entrance is just a small slit in the ground only big enough to slide into sideways. One needs to crouch under the overhead rocks to enter into a very dark dead end. The rock wall of the dead end is a carefully disguised counter weighted door that, if one finds it, opens to reveal a dimly lit cavern with several dead ends and one path that leads one back to the entrance. Once the eyes adjust to the light a lucky visitor may discover another door disguised as a rock tumble and further hidden behind a waterfall. The waterfall turns off with any loud noise because of a "clapper" switch and one of the rocks pushes open to reveal a well appointed trapper's cabin complete with kitchen, bathroom and a pantry of snacks and drinks ( the mice found this first ).

The cabin was built by a crew from Disney just shortly before I arrived in Pawling. By the way, the cool 1930s refrigerator works....You can own one too!

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