# Longhorn Cavern Cave Degree



## My Freemasonry (Oct 14, 2011)

[h=3](View Flyer)[/h] 
The 49th Masonic District is proud to announce the Longhorn Cavern Cave Degree which will be held on October 29th. Dinner is at 5pm, Master Mason Degree at 7pm. Download the *flyer* for more information.

[h=3]Location[/h]Longhorn Cavern State Park6211 Park Road 4 S
Burnet, TX  78611United States
30Â° 43' 1.2396" N, 98Â° 22' 52.032" W
  See map: Google Maps



      Date: 
                                    Saturday, 29 October 2011 - 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm        


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## Michaelstedman81 (Oct 17, 2011)

I was hoping that this was going to get posted in here.  Glad to see someone is on top of it   Should be a pretty interesting deal.  I live literally three miles from the cave.  Sucks I had to miss the cave degree in the past cause of a deployment...lol  This should be pretty awesome to see.  If anyone is attending, make sure to let me know so that we can link up and meet.


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## Brent Heilman (Oct 17, 2011)

Man. I wish I could make it. I was thinking about heading down that way around that time frame but other things came up and I am not going to make it. It would be an awesome place to have a Degree. Which room of the cave is it going to be in?


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## Michaelstedman81 (Oct 17, 2011)

Ah, well we will get ya down here at some point or another...lol  I don't know for sure which room they are going to have the degree in.  Haven't thought to ask, but I will Wed night when I'm up at practice.  I'm sure that it will be in the Indian Council Room or whatever it is called.  Or right down a bit from there.  They have gone back to the old way of doing things there and started having concerts, weddings, and stuff like that down there.


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## Brent Heilman (Oct 18, 2011)

That's cool they are back to doing stuff down there. Over the years so much has taken place there why not? I will be down there at some point soon. I do wish it could be that weekend. So are you going to be a part of the degree? I was assuming you were since you said practice.


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## Michaelstedman81 (Oct 19, 2011)

Brent Heilman said:


> That's cool they are back to doing stuff down there. Over the years so much has taken place there why not? I will be down there at some point soon. I do wish it could be that weekend. So are you going to be a part of the degree? I was assuming you were since you said practice.



Yea, I am glad that they got back to doing stuff like that down there.  I think that they stopped doing a lot of that kind of stuff because back in the 20's and 30's they would have church and even have a "speak easy".  The people didn't understand the destruction of the cave that they were doing, and when someone finallly realized what was going on they stopped doing all of that.  Longhorn Cavern IS a State Park, but it is ran differently than all but one of the rest of the State Parks.  When the State bought it from the owners, the only way the owners of the land would sell is if the State would allow a private entity "manage" or "run" the place.  So, even though it is it is a State Park, the people working there are working for a private company (the same people that run the Canyon of the Eagles tour on Lake Buchanan).

Over the last several years, there have been a lot of geologists and other kinds of scientists coming in showing the destruction the humans were doing to the cave.  But, I guess the folks that are running the cave were looking for more ways to make more money so they started having concerts regularly down there with dinner and stuff.  I guess they are pretty careful about where they let people go and what they can and can't touch on the inside.

No, I won't be part of the degree.  I just go up to my lodge weekly to floor practice.  I think this time it would be more fun for me to be there and watch, and then maybe later on take part in it.  Make sure you get a hold of me on here or some other way when you are coming down.  Google + prolly isn't the best way to get a hold of me as I just check it randomly.  We will have to link up and break bread.  If I get enough notice, I can let you know when our meetings are and maybe you can come sit and visit with us.


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## Brent Heilman (Oct 20, 2011)

Man I didn't know that it was been run privately now. When did that happen? When I head that way I'll PM you.


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## Michaelstedman81 (Oct 21, 2011)

It has always been ran privately.  When the Crownover family (I'm bout 90% sure that is the family) sold the property, it was part of the deal that they wanted to make sure that a private company operates the cave and not the State itself.  If I remember correctly, all this took place during FDR's thing about getting people work.  The State owns the property and a company contracts for the operation of it.  I believe the company that runs it now is called Longhorn Cave Tours or something like that, but it has always been run by a private business.  Unless something has changed over the past several years, it was one of the only two State Parks that was operated by a contracted private business.  Pretty neat history to the whole thing.  (Lol, I used to tour guide there when I was a kid ahhaha)

Yea, for sure.  PM me when you are coming down.


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## Brent Heilman (Oct 21, 2011)

So you used to be a tour guide there? No wonder you are so knowledgeable on that place. I think I have taken the tour there about 5 times throughout my life. Every time I have been in that area with someone that has never been they always want to go so I take them. While it isn't the prettiest or largest cave you will ever see the history of the place is what makes it so fascinating. I never knew that it was run privately and not through the state though. I don't think anyone had ever mentioned that until you did. Thanks for the info. I learned something today and now I can stop trying for the rest of the day.


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## Michaelstedman81 (Oct 25, 2011)

Yea, it's not the biggest or "prettiest" cave, but that is because of the way it was made.  It is different than most other caves because it was formed by an underground river.  The river eroded away everything and that is how it was made.  Most other caves are formed by seepage and the rock being eaten away by other means (after all these years I forgot the name of it...lol).  Thats why there aren't all those stalactites and things that you seee in other "mainstream" caves.  So to me keeping the fact that it was one of the few caves formed by a river running underground, it sheds a whole new light or way of looking at the cave for me.  

And yea, there is a lot of really cool history with Longhorn Caverns.  Gotta say, probably one of the best jobs I had as a young lad...lol Speaking of history, did you notice the trash cans that were placed througout the cave?


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## Brent Heilman (Oct 25, 2011)

I remember seeing them throughout. I bet that was a cool job. Actually kinda jealous of you for having a job like that while I was stuck crawling around in attics and stuff.


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## Michaelstedman81 (Oct 25, 2011)

Yea, the trash cans are old ration containers from the cold war.  I guess during the cold war era, the President had Longhorn Caverns as a fallout shelter so they stockpiled rations and ammo and stuff like that.  Next time you are in there and come up on one, stop and take a look at it and you will see the labels on it.  Pretty neat actually.  

Yea, it was a pretty good job. Not only would I take people on regular tours, but I would take people on the "Wild Cave" tours where you get to go throughout all the tunnels and do REAL spelunking and caving.  For sure was a good way to impressing the ladies...lol  Another cool job I had was taking people on kayak tours up on Lake Buchanan.  Would take them up to where the water falls are and teach them bout the history of the area and all that and let them play in the lake and all that.  Couldn't beat getting paid thirteen bucks an hour to kayak around (which was a hobby), swim, and meet awesome people and show them how ot have fun...lol


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