Bone Cave is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Van Buren County, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It lies near U.S. Route 70S

U.S. Route 70S

U.S. Route 70s is an alternate to U.S. Route 70 between the western part of Nashville, TN and Sparta, Tennessee. It runs concurrent with US 70 for several blocks in downtown Nashville...

 northwest of the town of Spencer

Spencer, Tennessee

Spencer is a town in Van Buren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,713 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Van Buren County.-Geography:...

, the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Van Buren County. Its elevation is 965 feet (294 m), and it is located at 35°46′30"N 85°35′6"W (35.7750675, -85.5849782). The various forms of its names led the Board on Geographic Names

United States Board on Geographic Names

The United States Board on Geographic Names is a United States federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government.-Overview:...

 to decide on the official form of the community's name in 1895.

The community is named for nearby Big Bone Cave

Big Bone Cave

Big Bone Cave is a cave located in Van Buren County, Tennessee in the community of Bone Cave. It is notable both for its history and current recreational use. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a State Natural Area managed by Rock Island State Park . It is named for...

, one of the most famous and historic cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

s in Tennessee. Big Bone Cave was named for the discovery of a giant ground sloth skeleton in 1811 during the mining of cave dirt to be processed for saltpeter

Saltpeter

Saltpeter or saltpetre often refers to:*Potassium nitrate, or the mineral niter, the critical oxidizing component of gunpowder, and a food preservative.It may also refer to:...

.

At one time the community had its own post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

, the Bone Cave Post Office. This post office closed some time after 1980.