America's Largest Underground Lake Is Hidden 140 Feet Below the Surface-Here's How to Visit

"Part of the Craighead Caverns cave system, the Lost Sea is located near Sweetwater, a small city in the foothills of the Smokies, right between Knoxville and Chattanooga. While the lake is said to have been discovered in 1905 by a 13-year-old boy named Ben Sands, the surrounding caverns were used by the Cherokee, and 20,000-year-old jaguar tracks were also found there."

""It is simply amazing to see such a large body of water so far underground. It always makes me think of what else that might be underground that we don't even know about," Lisa McClung, general manager at the Lost Sea, tells Travel + Leisure. "It is majestic and mysterious and simply beautiful. Definitely something you do not see every day.""

"The main attraction at the Lost Sea is, unsurprisingly, the lake itself, and you'll join one of the guided tours, offered on the hour throughout the day, to see it for yourself. From start to finish, the experience lasts about an hour and 15 minutes. The journey includes a 0.75-mile round-trip walk along wide, steep pathways, and an education on the history and geology of the cave, lake, and rare formations, like the de"

Tennessee hosts extensive subterranean cave systems that include chambers, tunnels, rivers, waterfalls, and lakes. The Lost Sea, part of Craighead Caverns near Sweetwater between Knoxville and Chattanooga, is the largest underground lake in the United States. The lake was reportedly discovered in 1905 by a 13-year-old, and the caverns show evidence of Cherokee use and ancient jaguar tracks. About 13 acres of the lake have been mapped with roughly 4.5 acres visible to the public and additional water-filled rooms below. Guided tours last about 1 hour 15 minutes and include a 0.75-mile walk and geological history.

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