opened "Historic Indian Cave" on June 15, 1929—four months before the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. With $50 left Hubby, Lenore, and their two children moved to Miami, Florida where they eventually opened an Indian trading post. From 1930 to 1941, the Wertz family returned each summer to open the cavern. Following the tragic death of Lenore Wertz in a car accident in 1941, t
he family settled permanently in Pennsylvania. "Bear" Wertz, Jr., then age fourteen, formed a partnership to run Indian Caverns—a partnership which remained intact until Hubby's death, after sixty years in the business, in 1987. Bear Wertz and his wife Jo operated the caverns as a partnership from 1987 until Bear's death in 2004. Bear also spent over sixty years in the cave business. Following his death Indian Caverns was incorporated by his wife and three children. His grandson, Harold Aden Wertz, IV, managed Indian Caverns for the next two years. Most recently Bear's son, Bill Wertz, operated the caverns from 2007 until his untimely death in June of 2009. The cave is still owned and operated by the Wertz family. In 2015, 3 of the 4 property owners decided to sell the entire property. The family member who had been managing the business was outvoted and there is a pending sale. The business officially closed at the end of October, 2016, It will be open for private tours until it is sold; which may be June of 2017 if the pending sale goes through.
