The South’s Secret Speakeasy Caves
The history of these clandestine watering holes that can be found across the region.
Sara Camp Milam
10.27.17 5:00 AM ET
Inspired by the speakeasies of Prohibition, “secret” bars have been trending for at least a decade now. In-the-know drinkers access today’s establishments by phone booths, garage doors, basement staircases, even port-a-johns. But what did the original underground bars of the 1920s and 1930s look like? In the foothills and mountains of the South, bar owners sometimes took the “underground” descriptor literally, setting up shop in the region’s plentiful limestone caverns. While some cave clubs, or dance caves, as they were often known, flew under the radar, today we know the stories of a few in Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-souths-secret-speakeasy-caves
