History & local legend
Penn's Cave, near Centre Hall, is a water-filled cavern with a romance attached to its underground passages. The attraction retells the story of Malachi Boyer, a French trapper, and Nita-nee, a young Seneca woman whose family opposed their relationship.
In the legend, the couple tries to escape together but is captured. Boyer is confined inside the cave, where he dies after calling repeatedly for Nita-nee. His voice is said to remain in the passages, still calling her name. The tale was preserved in Henry W. Shoemaker's collection Penn's Grandest Cavern and became closely associated with the attraction.
Commercial cave tours began in 1885.
