Where are the Howe Caverns located that were discovered by Lester Howe?”
Howe Caverns is a cave in Howes Cave, Schoharie County, New York. Outside view of the caverns. Geologists believe that the formation of the cave, which lies 156 feet (48 m) below ground, began several million years ago. Composed mainly of limestone deposited hundreds of millions of years ago when the Atlantic Ocean stretched far inland, the cave contains a lake called the Lake of Venus, as well as many speleothems.
Legend has it that on the hottest of days, a cool breeze came from “Blowing Rock,” a strange stony ledge. No one knew where in the hillside “Blowing Rock” was precisely as the 19th century began. There were tales, though, from the early 1700s in which the Native Americans spoke of “Otsgaragee,” translated as “Cave of the Great Galleries” or “Great Valley Cave”. It was near this “Blowing Rock” that Lester Howe, his wife Lucinda (Rowley) Howe, and their three infant children – Hulda Ann, Harriet Elgiva and Halsey John – settled. On his farm in the valley east of Cobleskill, Lester Howe found fascination with the story of the “Blowing Rock,” with reports placing its location about 10 miles west of the Schoharie River, on or near his property. Twenty years before the outbreak of the Civil War, the alert farmer noticed that his dairy herd always pastured in the same spot, not on his land, but land owned by his neighbor and friend Henry Wetsel. As Howe approached his herd, he noticed the cha
May 22, 1842: Lester Howe goes to investigate why his cows stand at the bottom of the hill in the hot summer months. Lester owned a farm about 40 miles west of Albany, the capital of New York. Lester’s cows grazed in the same spot during heat waves. Lester went to investigate the area and a strong, cool breeze came from behind a stand of bushes. He dug out the bushes and found an entrance to a cave. He and his neighbor, Henry Wetsel, excavated and explored the find. The entrance was on Henry’s property and Lester bought the land in February 1843 for $100.
