On August 13, 1878, town tinsmith Andrew Campbell, his 13-year-old nephew Quint, and three other men explored for a cave with the help of photographer Benton Stebbins, digging away loose rock for four hours before Campbell and Quint descended by rope, candle in hand, into what proved to be one of the largest caverns in the East, filled with stalactites and stalagmites sparkling in the candlelight. Alexander J. Brand, Jr., a New York Herald correspondent and the first travel writer to visit Luray Caverns, called it "a magnificent cave" and "the most beautiful I've ever seen." The Smithsonian Institution praised the caverns' stalactite and stalagmite ornamentation, the Encyclopedia Britannica devoted an unprecedented page and a half to their wonders, and some regarded them as the "Discovery of the Century." In a report of July 13 and 14, 1880, the Smithsonian Institution said that probably no other cave in the world was more completely and profusely decorated with stalactite and stalagmite ornamentation than Luray. In 1974, the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior designated Luray Caverns a U.S. Registered Natural Landmark. Luray Caverns is presented as the largest and most visited caverns in America and one of the most popular caverns worldwide, with guided tours through cathedral-sized rooms, towering stone formations, Giant's Hall, Dream Lake, Titania's Veil, and the stalacpipe organ spread throughout three acres of caverns.