The651.com

With sweltering heat currently suffocating the Twin Cities, it’s now time to head indoors into the cool comforts of air conditioning.  Better still, now is the time to escape the heat with a visit to the Wabasha Caves. Is there anything cooler than a cave?  While the temps outside soar into the 90s, the Wabasha caves are permanently chilled.  They are so cold, in fact, that furnaces have to be on at all times.  Just a few feet inside the front entrance, visitors are greeted by the sweet and natural cold conditions of the historic caves.

Throughout history, the Wabasha Caves have served as a mushroom farm, speakeasy, and gangster haven.  A guided historic tour (about 45 minutes) leads patrons two hundred feet straight back into the caves.  Along the way, attendees learn a small but unique piece of St. Paul’s past:  Etched into the rock are bullet holes and various markings; Old timey photos of Prohibition beer swillers and lolly gaggers enjoying the seclusion of the caves adorn the walls; Mug shots of some rough looking boot leggers and criminals who visited the caves make-up a wall of shame.  The tour leads through the finished area of the caves, where weddings and swing dancing lessons are now held, to a series of unfinished caves.  Under the bare rock and shadows of the unfinished caves, patrons can feel the cold dampness of natural earth and stone.  The caves are well lit and offer a gritty look into an unseen world.  Oh, it might sound a tad bit spooky.  But the tour is peppered with light-hearted and funny tales of ghosts, gangsters, and manure covered floors.  I mean, how scary can a tour be if the first thing you see as a visitor to the Wabasha Caves is a giant Snoopy statue that is dressed in an adorable pinstripe Dillinger gangster suit?

For a more extensive look into the storied history of St. Paul, the Down in History Tours offers deluxe tours that showcase St. Paul’s rich Irish heritage, Scandinavian heritage, Victorian Homes, and of course, Gangsters.

What:  Wabasha Caves

Where:  215 Wabasha Street South
St. Paul, MN  554107-1805

When:  Thursdays   5:00pm
Saturdays and Sunday 11:00am

Cost:    $5.00/person