Histories

From Cross Cave (article written circa 1957): The story of French Lick would be incomplete without some reference to Cross' Cave. In 1886, Ferdinand Cross, the son of John Cross, a stone-carver of Binghamton, New York, came to Orange County prospecting among the hills that surround French Lick Springs. He came upon a natural amphitheater, a sheltered ravine hemmed in on three sides by great over-hanging cliffs, cool and moss-covered in the shade of mighty forest trees. With a clear, cold spring trickling from a small cave that was thenceforth to bear the Cross name. Here, he built a house, with a studio nearby, where at last he could indulge his fancy with the tools of his beloved trade. And before long, thanks to a capable wife, Cross' Cave became a popular chicken dinner place for hundreds of French Lick hotel guests, who came to partake of the excellent cuisine and explore the small cave. It was then that wonderful carvings began to appear on the hillside, where once shapeless blocks of limestone had been. Among them, was a life-sized group of cattle standing by an old well. There was a pair of turtles, too, bearing their young on their backs. with owls, monkeys, lizards, eagles, snakes and all manner of wild things. There was the thorn crowned head of the Man of Galilee, and an inscription in stone, "He was wounded for our transgressions."