Mammoth Cave Takes Visitors Back in Time

M A M M O T H   C A V E, Ky., Feb. 20 -- Mammoth Cave doesn't have the colorfulstalagmites and stalactites that make some caves famous. Lightingis minimal; signs are nonexistent, and there's no pipe organplaying "Shenandoah," like the one at Luray Caverns in Virginia.

Yet Mammoth's claims to fame are many. It's the longest cave inthe world, with more than 360 miles of connected tunnels. It's alsothe second-oldest tourist attraction in America, after NiagaraFalls, with guided tours offered since 1816.

Huts used by an 1840stuberculosis colony still stand, as do mining pits from 1812. Mostamazing of all is how far back Mammoth's human connections stretch:Mummies have been found in the cave, and you can still seepetroglyphs (cave drawings) that are thousands of years old.

Mammoth entered recorded history around 1798 when John Houchins,a Kentucky homesteader, shot and wounded a bear, then followed thecritter into a natural cave entrance that is still used today.

Other early 19th century visitors found the cave's tunnelslittered with discarded moccasins, reed torches and severalmummified bodies. Eventually archaeologists determined theseartifacts were up to 4,000 years old; the cool, dry cave air hadpreserved them.

Mummies a Major Attraction

The mummies became traveling shows. "Mammoth Cave wasworld-famous because of the mummies," said tour guide DavidSholar, a National Parks Service ranger. "Wealthy people in Europeand in the East wanted to see Mammoth Cave, and the owners ofMammoth got a wild idea — that people would pay money to see a holein the ground."

To sophisticated 19th century Easterners and Europeans, a cavetour in Kentucky — billed as "The American Interior" — was asappealing and exotic as a trip to the Amazon rain forest soundsnow. Porters — who in antebellum times were often slaves of thecave-owners — brought food and musical instruments to entertaintheir guests on 12-hour excursions. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the"Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind were among the Who's Who ofvisitors in the 1800s.