Decorah Ice Cave State Preserve

United States historic place


Decorah Ice Cave
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


43°18′38″N 91°47′3″W / 43.31056°N 91.78417°W / 43.31056; -91.78417
Area	2.9 acres (1.2 ha)
Built	1898
NRHP reference No.	78001269^[1]
Added to NRHP	December 20, 1978

Decorah Ice Cave State Preserve has one of the largest ice caves in the Midwestern United States.^[2] It consists of a 3-acre (1.2 ha) parcel of land at the edge of Barbara Barnhart VanPeenen Memorial Park in the northern portion of the city of Decorah, in Winnesheik County, Iowa.

Ice Cave is open to the public as an 'enter at your own risk' attraction. In the late 1990s, the Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bureau required a permanent barrier be installed due to some rock movement. Since then, a large rock has fallen and visitors are now only able to comfortably walk into the cave about 10 feet from the entrance.

Ice caves are one characteristic of karst topography, along with sinkholes and cave systems, all of which are present in the area, a portion of the Driftless Area of Iowa. From autumn and into early winter the cave is dry. Ice begins to form in January or February near the entrance and continues down to the lower levels. Several inches of ice on the north wall materializes by late May, and generally remains until late August.^[3]

The cave was given to Decorah in 1954 and remains the property of the city. It was declared a state geological state preserve in 1973. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ "Decorah Ice Cave State Preserve (Click on the link "State Preserves Guide (Listing of all 95 preserves)" in the text.)". Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
^ George E. Knudson. "Decorah Ice Cave". National Park Service. Retrieved July 5, 2016.

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National monument	Effigy Mounds
National Historic Site	Herbert Hoover
National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beeds Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake Macbride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Lower Gar Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pillsbury Point Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island
State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River
State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Winneshiek County, Iowa
Bluffton	Gilliece Bridge Upper Bluffton Bridge
Burr Oak	Burr Oak House/Masters Hotel Burr Oak Savings Bank Kinney Octagon Barn
Calmar	Calmar Passenger Depot
Decorah	Birdsall Lime Kiln Broadway-Phelps Park Historic District Cooley-Whitney House Decorah Commercial Historic District Decorah Ice Cave Decorah Municipal Bathhouse and Swimming Pool Decorah Woolen Mill Ellsworth-Porter House Highlandville School Horn House Jacobson Farm Koren Library Locust School Luther College Campus Historic District Luther College Farm Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Combination Depot Norris Miller House Painter-Bernatz Mill Steyer Bridge Steyer Opera House Ten Mile Creek Bridge Washington Prairie Methodist Church
Fort Atkinson	Fort Atkinson Bridge Fort Atkinson Historic District
Frankville	Frankville School
Jackson Junction	Lawrence Bridge
Ossian	Ossian Opera House
Spillville	Wenzil Taylor Building
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Winneshiek County, Iowa and List of National Historic Landmarks in Iowa