Editing Grainger County, Tennessee (section)

===Indian Cave===
Indian Cave is a historic site located on the [[Holston River]] near present-day [[Blaine, Tennessee|Blaine]]. The cave was used for centuries before Europeans entered the area, as [[indigenous peoples]] settled in the area about 1000 CE.<ref name="History">[http://www.knoxville-tn.com/smoky.html "History of Great Smoky Mountain Park"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004071655/http://www.knoxville-tn.com/smoky.html |date=October 4, 2012 }}, Knoxville, Tennessee Information Gateway, accessed May 26, 2012</ref> Remains of cane torches and other artifacts located in the cave indicate use by prehistoric indigenous peoples.<ref>Larry E. Matthews, Chapter 4: "Indian Cave", ''Caves of Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains'', National Speleological Society, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-879961-30-2}}, pp. 83-104</ref>  The [[Iroquoian]]-speaking [[Cherokee]] migrated into the area from the northeast, making the eastern Ohio River valley and [[Appalachians]] down into South Carolina their historic territory.<ref name="History"/>

In the 1700s, a Cherokee village was located just west of the main cave entrance, before the people were pushed out by encroaching Anglo-American settlers.<ref name="Matthews 2008 pp. 83-104">Matthews (2008), "Caves of Knoxville", pp. 83-104</ref> The [[John Donelson|Donelson Party]] passed the Indian Cave entrance on their way down the Holston River in 1779 to settle present-day [[Nashville, Tennessee]].<ref name="Matthews 2008 pp. 83-104"/> In the years after the [[American Revolutionary War]], the number of settlers continued to increase. Under the [[Indian Removal Act]] of 1830, Congress authorized the president to remove the Indians from the Southeast to territory west of the Mississippi River.<ref name="History"/>

[[Robert Hoke]], a former Confederate general from North Carolina, purchased the cave on July 21, 1869, as one of his business enterprises after the [[American Civil War]]. He had it mined for [[bat]] [[guano]], a valuable natural fertilizer.<ref name="Matthews 2008 pp. 83-104"/>

Area businessmen formed the Indian Cave Park Association on January 4, 1916, to develop the cave as a commercial attraction, as was being done for other caves throughout the Great Smoky Mountains. The Association did not open the cave officially to the public until May 30, 1924.

On November 18, 2000, over 800 people from all over the United States attended an all-night dance party known as the "Rave in a Cave" in Indian Cave. The party lured many of its attendees via [[Internet advertisements]]. 22 arrests on drug charges were made and one party-goer died of a drug overdose. On the day of the party, nearby residents attempted to block access into the cave, leading to physical action by the attendees with baseball bats. Officials from the Grainger County sheriff's department had set up a road block to prevent further confrontations between county residents and the party attendees. Over 150 traffic citations were also filed as well.<ref name="ravecave">{{cite news |title=22 drug arrests made in rave in cave party that lured 800 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/112559986/ |access-date=November 7, 2020 |work=[[The Tennessean]] |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |date=November 22, 2000}}</ref>

The cave is not open to visitors and is closed to the public as of 2005.<ref name="Matthews 2008 pp. 83-104"/>