Wind Cave was the first cave designated as a national park anywhere in the world.
The cave became part of Wind Cave National Park when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the establishing legislation in 1903. The park was the sixth national park in the United States, but its significance extends beyond the American system: it was the first national-park designation centred on a cave.
Wind Cave lies in South Dakota’s Black Hills, near Hot Springs. Its name comes from the noticeable air movement at a small natural opening, caused by differences in atmospheric pressure between the cave and the surface. The underground network is especially famous for boxwork, a rare calcite formation that resembles honeycomb.
Mammoth Cave, Carlsbad Cavern, and Jewel Cave are easy alternatives because they are also internationally important protected cave sites. Mammoth Cave later became a national park, and Carlsbad Caverns received national-park status in 1930, but neither was the first cave designated as a national park. Wind Cave’s park designation dates to 1903.