Western Kentucky is known as the land of a thousand sinkholes, with Mammoth National Park being at the center. This 53,000 acre wildlife preserve is just part of the huge forest that once spread over most of eastern and central North America. On the surface the land is beautiful rolling hills and tall trees, but below lies a mysterious world of tight spaces, grand rooms and elegant formations.
The Kentucky area was a shallow sea 350 million years ago. As the water dropped, the land evolved into layers of sandstone on top and limestone underneath, creating unique conditions for cave formation. Underground rivers carved the passages, and the larger rooms were formed by whirlpools as the water levels steadily dropped over 70 million years. The underground river still exists 450 feet below the surface, emptying into the Green River.
The millions of years' water action left 350 miles of explored territory and potentially another 600 miles of undiscovered areas, which are the habitat of 130 cave life forms including crickets, fish and bats. Most of the caves are dry now and lack the stalactite and stalagmite formations often seen in wet caves. Most of the current park tours feature enormous rooms and elegant water-carved passageways. However, the Frozen Niagara Tour and the Great Onyx Lantern Tour specifically include wet cave formations of soda straws and flowstone.
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| Frozen Niagara Passage |
Aboriginal artifacts, dating back 2,000 to 4,000 years, were discovered in some of the areas, indicating that early man may have lived in the cave entrances and mined for salt.
Early settlers came to the area in 1798 and mined saltpeter (needed for gunpowder) during the War of 1812. After the war, the mining interest died out but word of the huge cave system spread to the larger cities. Thus, by 1816, Mammoth Caves had become one of the first American tourist attractions. Early visitors attired in fancy dresses and stiff suits walked through the caves using rickety ladders and dim lanterns. They often carved their names and dates in the rocks with chisels or lamp smoke. Those signatures are still visible today on the some of the tours, although the practice was stopped many years ago.
Mammoth Caves was one of the first areas to join the national park system, in 1916, with only 40 miles of mapped passages. Above ground, the farmland was allowed to recycle itself back to forest again, and slowly the wildlife such as deer and wild turkey returned to the area. As knowledge about the cave system grew, it was recognized as the largest cave in the world, three times larger than any other system. In 1981, Mammoth National Park was declared a World Heritage Site and, in 1990, it became an International Biosphere Reserve.
There are 13 tours available through different parts of the caverns. They vary in cost depending on the sections of the cave to be viewed, the length of the tour (1/2 hour up to 6 ½ hours), and the comfort level of the passages.
Although photography and videotaping is allowed, the use of tripods, monopods, walking sticks, and canes (unless needed for health reasons) are forbidden because they create tripping hazards. Since most of the tours include stairways and bumpy passages, strollers are also forbidden. Some visitors choose to carry their toddlers in backpack style carriers which is fine, but it is necessary to be aware of the low ceiling and bending areas in order to avoid bumping the child's head.
Temperature in the cave stays between 12.7ºC and 18ºC, so visitors are encouraged to carry light jackets even in summertime. Also because the cave floors and stairs can be slick and wet, visitors should wear durable, flat-soled footwear that offers good traction.
