| Bat Cave, North Carolina | |
| Named For: | A bat cave located on Bluerock Mountain[1] |
| Pushpin Map: | North Carolina#USA |
| Pushpin Label: | Bat Cave |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name1: | North Carolina |
| Subdivision Name2: | Henderson |
| Timezone: | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Coordinates: | 35.4514°N -82.2869°W |
| Elevation M: | 451 |
| Elevation Ft: | 1480 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 28710[2] |
| Area Code: | 828 |
| Blank Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank Info: | 1018981[3] |
Bat Cave is an unincorporated community in Henderson County, North Carolina, United States and is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. Named after a bat cave located on Bluerock Mountain (also known as Bat Cave Mountain), it is the largest known augen gneiss granite fissure cave in North America and is a protected area, not open to the public.[4] It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names[5] [6] and is also a regular victim of street sign theft, especially in the early 1990s during the popularity of the movie Batman Returns.
The community, located along the banks of the Broad River and within the Hickory Nut Gorge, features several shops, inns and a post office. It is also where three highways merge, U.S. Route 64 (US 64) from Hendersonville, U.S. Route 74A (US 74A) from Asheville, and North Carolina Highway 9 (NC 9) from Black Mountain, becoming Lake Lure Highway; which then continues in a southeasterly direction to Chimney Rock and Lake Lure.
The area was first connected by a Drovers' road, a natural access into the interior of the Blue Ridge Mountains for drovers who were moving livestock, mostly flocks of turkeys and some geese, herds of hogs and some cattle in and out of the mountains to the markets. Established in 1798, it connected the area with Asheville, following on what is today US 74A.[7] In 1879, the Bat Cave Post Office opened; previously known as Chimney Rock Post Office, it originally opened in 1843 (located where what is now Lake Lure) and had a series of closures before its relocation and renaming. The post office was destroyed, as was much of the community, during the flood of 1916, but was later rebuilt. In the 1920s, the Bat Cave community, and its famous cave, became a popular tourist attraction. The 186acres Bat Cave Preserve was setup in response to that popularity and help protect the endangered Indiana bats as well as several other species of bats that inhabit the cave.[8] [9]
In 1948, Navy Captain George Bond established the Valley Clinic and Hospital. Five years later he was recognized as "Doctor of the Year.” In the 1970s, the Bat Cave Volunteer Fire Department was organized.[8]