The hill country midway between Nashville and Louisville along Interstate 65 looks like much of the land in rural America. Its landforms are typical of vistas you will see in Tennessee, Kentucky, and the surrounding states. Yet there is nothing humdrum about what lurks beneath those ridges, bluffs, and streams. For underneath the old-growth forest of black oak, beech, sugar maple, tulip poplar, and hickory lies the world’s longest cave system, Mammoth Cave, with its seemingly interminable number of underground passageways and rooms.
Prehistoric hunters were the first to discover, explore, and use Mammoth Cave for shelter. Later, Native Americans also lived in the cave. About 200 years ago, American settlers came
to this region. Unlike Native Americans, these settlers considered the caves to be of trivial importance. During the War of 1812, however, the cave’s resources became valuable:
saltpeter, used in making gunpowder, was mined there. After the war, with the help of explorer-guides, the cave gained national attention as a tourist attraction.
Nowadays, visitors can get a foretaste of the cave’s history and uses within a few hundred yards of its historic entrance. There they will come to the Rotunda, a huge chamber that features the remains of the saltpeter mine that was in full operation during the War of 1812.
Today, Mammoth Cave is both a national park and a World Heritage Site. To accommodate its many visitors, hotels and restaurants have been built adjacent to the cave’s Historic Entrance. As a safety precaution, many miles of its passageways have handrails that are lit with electric lights. Yet even with these improvements, the cave remains a dangerous place. In fact, all visitors must tour the cave accompanied by a park ranger.