BELOW THE
SURFACE
More than meets the eye at Devil’s Sinkhole, Texas Miniature exhibit By Ariel Lutnesky
It was when Ammon Billings was out chasing his hogs that he discovered the Devil’s Sinkhole in 1876, said Andrew Barnebey. “He had no idea it was there and he was very impressed,” said Barnebey, the president of the Devil’s Sinkhole Society that oversees the Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area. “He found his wife and said, ‘I’ve seen the gateway to hell.’ She said, ‘You can’t call it that. Let’s call it the Devil’s Sinkhole.’” The Devil’s Sinkhole is Texas’ fourth largest Mexican free-tailed bat colony, which can amount to 3 million bats on warm nights, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. This makes bats one of the area’s main attractions. “They rise every evening around dusk in a tornado and then drive across the sky in this huge river,” Barnebey said. “It is just jaw-dropping to see this.” Millions of years ago, the area was covered in water, Barnebey said. Receding water caused a cave to be carved into the limestone. Erosion caused the roof to fall in. The entrance is about 65 feet wide and the cavern is at least 350 feet deep. At the widest point, it could fit more than three football fields, according to TPW. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the area becoming a National Natural Landmark. Texas purchased
38
TEXAS HILL COUNTRY CULTURE
I
MARCH 2020
