Tory’s Den Cave in Walnut Cove, North Carolina

Hidden within North Carolina's Hanging Rock State Park is Tory's Den, a natural cave steeped in Revolutionary War legend. Atlas Obscura reports that the name comes from a supposed connection to backcountry loyalists who, according to local tales, used the cave as a hideout during the Revolution—until they were driven out by Patriot militia. The cave sits in the Sauratown Mountains, a range that once towered as high as the Rockies but has eroded over hundreds of millions of years, its quartzite rock protecting it from weathering as severely as the surrounding terrain. The hideaway is easily accessible via a short hike.

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