Mammoth Cave April 2016

Mammoth Cave is the largest cave in the world. It is a national park and we toured it for 3 days.

Dismal Hollow is a section of Mammoth Cave created by a warm shallow tropical sea 8 degrees from the equator.  Limestone and huge sedentary rock are within. Water rarely gets in. Sinkholes gave birth to Mammoth Cave. Gypsum is a byproduct of limestone and was produced during Civil War. 

Imagine being lost for 39 hours. Imagine darkness, so hard to stay sane while only hearing your heart beat.

Inside Mammoth Cave

Even in 1863 tours were given to troops in gray and blue uniforms just not at the same time. Smoking was permitted. Slaves were tour guides. Smokey writing said "WAD WALLACE".  

The slaves taught by international guests became scholars on cave geology. 



Descendants of slaves guide visitors.   



 

Our guide Jerry Bransford was a descendant of original slave cave guides. He is an African American and a national park ranger. He had served in Vietnam in 1968, a year after Mike and is a year older than Mike. "God Damn Spit Shine Army." He retired from Dow Chemical but cares deeply about the cave and guests. 

 

No prehistoric remains of Native American people were found. They didn't live in the cave and seemed afraid of it. Steven Bishop, magnificent slave finds the snowball room. Bransford came from Britain and so did his slaves. 

People of Ky were promised: 1) no gate fee, 2) access any time of day for travel through, 3) graveyards undisturbed. 

Kentucky was a border state, not slave state. Bishop married when he jumped the broomstick with wife Parthena. He had 2 children sold away. How could slaves have feelings? 

Bathrooms and a snack bar are 272 feet underground. The cave exchanges its own air. Fallout shelter built in Mammoth Cave. 1963 cots, food, supplies provided per JFK.

Cooking and smoking damaged cave.

Not likely to divulge its final secrets said Bishop.

Boy, did that (ceiling ) fall!

Nick, a later slave raised  $400 to get freedom papers. "I would rather be a free slave in a cave." 

He was not well treated in Nashville as a free man.

 

Carbonic acid eroded the 400 mile cave. Sandstone formed the ceilings. Smooth ceilings look like a bad plaster job. Limestones laid down to form the walls and hold 130 species. Troglophiles go in and out of the cave. Troglobites live in darkness. No eyes. 

 

 

 

Tour of graveyard - Mammoth Cave

The night before leaving I discovered a lump on the back of my leg. I showed it to Mike and he did not recognize it. I made appointment with dermatologist who discovered a dog tick. I always wear long pants but I got bit anyway.