Kentucky's Mammoth Underground Marvel
Hundreds of thousands of years have sculpted the allure of Mammoth Cave

Tales of the wonders of Mammoth Cave began luring curious tourists into its tunnels around 1816. But it was the sensationalism of media reports in 1925 -- when amateur caver Floyd Collins was pinned by a boulder and died before rescuers could extract him from nearby Sand Cave -- that led to it becoming a fully established national park in 1941. At that time only 40 miles of caves had been mapped.

Today, with more than 350 miles of surveyed passageways, Mammoth Cave is at least three times longer than any known cave. And the Cave Research Foundation adds new mileage daily. Establishing the cave area as an international treasure, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the park a World Heritage Site in 1981 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990.

Geologically known as a karst area, south central Kentucky's cave region sits atop porous limestone that draws rainwater down through sinkholes, channeling it into subterranean rivers that over hundreds of thousands of years have sculpted the convoluted tunnels that make up Mammoth's extensive cave system. And it's the greenish reflection of light off of suspended limestone particles that gives the nearby scenic Green River its name.

Open all year except for Christmas Day, Mammoth Cave offers 10 different tours of varying length and difficulty along its 14 miles of prepared trails, from a half-hour introductory Discovery Tour to a three-hour nostalgic tour by the light of coal-oil lanterns to the "extremely strenuous" six-hour Wild Cave Tour, where those 16 years and over with a chest size of under 42 inches crawl, climb and wedge through nontraditional cave routes. There's even a one-mile jaunt for physically-impaired visitors.

For my maiden voyage down under, I chose to revel in the cave's cool 58 degrees on a sultry 95-degree August day, and took the two-hour Historic Tour. Though I saw no stalactites or stalagmites -- the Frozen Niagara Tour's your best bet for these -- I descended some 340 feet underground, ogled the spectacular 190-foot ceiling of Mammoth Dome, gazed as far as my eyes could focus into 105-foot deep Bottomless Pit, climbed the 130-step Fire Tower, hunched under a three-foot, six-inch ceiling and squeezed through 14-inch-wide Fat Man's Misery, then un-bent with a laugh in Great Relief Hall. Unusual visuals abound: 350 million-year-old rocks, Indian artifacts, bats, blind fish and dates as early as 1808 burned onto the walls by candles.

About 130 forms of life call Mammoth Cave home. But its history is every bit as appealing, especially as brought to life by our ranger, Zona Cetera, a 27-year seasonal veteran employee, retired teacher and avid spelunker who leads cave tours at least six miles per day. In a "ghost stories around the campfire" voice, she traced the first aboriginal visitor to 4,000 years ago, when "man first picked up a light and entered this world down below." Rediscovered in 1798, Mammoth Cave was a source of saltpeter, a key ingredient in gunpowder, during the War of 1812. African slaves were brought in to mine huge quantities of this mineral. We saw the ruins of these mines and heard about one of those slaves, Steven Bishop, who became a legendary cave guide and explorer, the first to discover many miles of tunnels. Through the years, she told us, the cave has harbored a mushroom farm (a short-lived business bust), a hospital for TB patients (many of whom died because of the cold and damp), a church and a myriad of lively dances.

"There were wooden dance floors," Cetera said, then chuckled, "I'd say this was the first air-conditioned dance hall." In a great cavern she pegged as the "haunted chambers of Gothic Avenue," she pointed out fat veins of black gypsum snaking through the walls. Then for a few seconds she doused all lights. I've never experienced such complete blackness and quiet. When the lights came back on, I admired the early torch-bearers whose only source of light could disappear in an errant draft.

If you go, by all means heed the park's caveat -- if you're uncomfortable in tight or dark spaces, have a fear of heights or can't climb well, chose a tour that suits your needs. Or better yet, stay above ground and hike, bike or ride a horse over some of the 73 miles of back country trails across 53,000 hardwood forested acres. Canoe or fish on 31 miles of the Green River and its tributary, the Nolin. Of three million annual visitors to the park, only 500,000 actually go through the cave, so if you don't, you'll be in good company. Lots goes on above ground. Nature lovers may sight white-tailed deer, fox, wild turkeys, great blue herons and many smaller critters; 872 species of flowering plants and both wetlands and rare old-growth forests. One of the most biologically diverse rivers in North America, the Green harbors 82 fish species and its gravel bars are a habitat for more than 50 species of freshwater mussels, one of the most endangered groups of animals in the U.S.

Want to be entertained? Each year, the park sponsors "Earthspeak!," a series of special events from April through October focused on the area's natural and human history. Recipient of the 1998 Governor's Government Award in the Arts for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the series begins in late April with Springfest, featuring Wildflower Weekend, birding hikes, the Karstlands Juried Art Exhibition, a folk music concert and hands-on art workshop. The third Saturday of each month, April through October, traditional regional melodies reign in the Karstland Music Series. And come October 9 through 17, 1999, "Colorfall" brings an abundant harvest of free events, including oral histories and walks led by local residents who will recount what life was like in three Flint Ridge communities prior to the cave's popularity, expert-led archaeology and genealogy seminars, storytelling, a cemetery preservation workshop, ranger-led costumed surface trail walks and a Saturday night concert with John Edmonds' Gospel Truth. In addition, you can watch folkways demonstrations, such as fiddle-making by craftsman Mack Gibson, white oak basket-making (an area specialty), quilting, chair-making, shape-note singing and old-fashioned kids' games. Because of this summer's dry weather, "there may not be a colorful fall," says volunteer coordinator Mary Ann Davis, "but there will be colorful people."

Accommodations run the hospitality gamut from the 1933-era Wayfarer Bed and Breakfast -- formerly the Mammoth Cave Souvenir Shop and home of the small but intriguing Floyd Collins Museum -- to the park's cottages, motor lodge or Mammoth Cave Hotel, complete with a dining room and coffee shop specializing in southern victuals and hospitality. According to Vickie Carson, Mammoth Cave's public information officer, the appeal of Mammoth Cave "is a generational thing. People came as kids and want to come back and show their children and grandchildren. Besides," she continues, "We're the world's longest cave. Many people have a checklist of the biggest, longest, smallest, whatever...we're definitely one of those."

Katherine Tandy Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

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