This photo shows a scene at Lily Lake on the grounds of Col. James O'Shaughnessy's home on Monte Sano. According to the Historic Huntsville Quarterly, the structure in the foreground of the photo is a "four-tiered vertical framework covered with ivy, and reaching an impressive height of twelve feet or so."
The hotel opened on June 1, 1887 as a luxury health resort. It was built by the North Alabama Improvement Company with funding from Michael and James O'Shaughnessy. The hotel closed in 1900 and was demolished in 1944.
The photo shows the owner, Henry Fuller, with his family outside the cave entrance. Fuller purchased the cave in 1888 and developed it into an underground dance hall and bar. The cave is near current-day Pulaski Pike in Huntsville.