Kentucky History Drive

History is all around us.

Pioneers, Native nations, long hunters, soldiers and distillers. Explore the stories that made Kentucky, on a living map you can travel through time.

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Cave Country

From Bowling Green's Lost River Cave to Mammoth Cave and Horse Cave: the karst country where saltpetre was mined for the War of 1812 and show caves drew paying visitors from 1816 on.

Stops

  1. 1. Lost River Cave

    PublicPaid admissionCivil War camp 1862. Nonprofit park; grounds and trails, paid underground boat tours.

    Confederate forces held Bowling Green from September 1861 to February 1862; Union soldiers then camped in the Lost River valley. Sources: Grokipedia: Lost River Cave; Lost River Cave

    Lost River Cave →

  2. 2. Kentucky Museum (WKU)

    PublicLimited hoursMuseum. University museum; check open days.

    Western Kentucky University's museum of Kentucky history and culture. Sources: WKU: Kentucky Museum

    3.4 mi, about 8 min from stop 1
    No story yet for this stop.

  3. 3. Diamond Caverns (visitor center)

    PublicPaid admissionDiscovered July 14, 1859. Privately owned show cave; paid guided tours only.

    Discovered on July 14, 1859, by an enslaved man held by landowner Jessie Coats; its name came from calcite formations a visitor likened to diamonds. Sources: Wikipedia: Diamond Caverns; Diamond Caverns

    27.2 mi, about 36 min from stop 2
    Diamond Caverns' Decorated Limestone →

  4. 4. Mammoth Cave National Park (visitor center)

    PublicPaid admissionSaltpetre 1812–1815. National park; surface trails free, cave tours paid and often sell out.

    Enslaved workers mined saltpetre in the cave for gunpowder during the War of 1812; the leaching vats survive in the Rotunda, and cave tours began by 1816. Sources: NPS: From Dirt to Gunpowder; NPS: Mammoth Cave National Park

    6.9 mi, about 13 min from stop 3
    Mammoth Cave saltpeter →

  5. 5. Hidden River Cave and American Cave Museum

    PublicPaid admissionCave under the town. Paid cave tours; museum admission.

    A large cave entrance in downtown Horse Cave; tours pass remains of a turn-of-the-century hydroelectric system that once supplied the town above with water and electricity. Sources: Hidden River Cave; Wikipedia: Hidden River Cave

    15 mi, about 26 min from stop 4
    Hidden River Cave under Horse Cave →

Directions cover the public stops only. Access, fees and hours are general; verify before visiting. Context: Salts Cave (inside the national park) is a protected archaeological site and closed to the public; it's mentioned only as context. The Page Site / Lost City in Logan County is likewise context only.

Route map