THR1 Tourism, sports & entertainment n CURIOSITY, FASCINATION DRAW PEOPLE TO AREA NATURAL WONDER PAGE 2 n SENSE OF THE DRAMATIC: REGION IS RICH IN ARTS HISTORY PAGE 5 Second in a four-part series BOWLING GREEN Coming April 10: Education & technology DAILYNEWS THR2 Thrive 2 Sunday, April 3, 2016 Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky “The mysteries and scenery of the cave had the same dignity that belongs to all natural objects, and which shames the fine things to which we foppishly compare them.” — Ralph WALDO EMERSON Curiosity, fascination draw people to area natural wonder MAMMOTH MYSTERY By JUSTIN STORY [email protected] or centuries, the area we now know as Mammoth Cave National Park has arguably been the linchpin that Family Owned & Operated has brought people here, whether it be indigenous people mining for crys- For Over 53 years. tals deep in the cave system more Fthan 2,000 years ago, a 19th-century doctor who C hoosing a funeral home is saw the cave as a possible holder of healing pow- a decision that many families face at some point, for their ers for tuberculosis sufferers or present-day tourists own pre-arrangements or on and biologists who study and admire the rare bats, behalf of deceased family members. This can be a very cave shrimp and other organisms that comprise the emotional process as choosing complex, flourishing ecosystem both on the surface a funeral home often provides the final closure for those left and in the subterranean caves that render the word behind. When loved ones are in 832 Broadway “mammoth” an understatement. a state of shock and grief, the task can become even more challenging. This year, Mammoth Cave is observing they go and what’s in there,” Merideth said. Funeral homes are often selected because they are close to home, have its 75th anniversary in the National Park Last fiscal year, about 478,000 people vis- System and commemorating 200 years since ited Mammoth Cave or took part in some provided service to the family in the past or have been recommended by a trusted tours began being offered. ranger-led activity there, part of a record- friend. While this might be a The poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo breaking 307.2 million visits recorded at all useful way of finding a funeral Emerson’s 1857 essay “Illusions” begins NPS sites in 2015. home during a distressing time, with a recollection of a tour of Mammoth The earliest evidence of visitors to it is smart to learn about Cave he made years earlier with a group of Mammoth Cave’s 52,830 acres dates back processes and options before people who admired the Star Chamber, a between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago, the age portion of the cave in which cave crystals attributed to sets of human remains and arti- you or your family actually and soot from years of lanterns combine to facts such as torches and drawings that have need to research and choose a produce the effect of a starlit sky on the ceil- been discovered there over the years. funeral home. Armed with the ing. The cave’s history as a tourist attraction right knowledge, this Emerson noted that the chamber was “the has its roots in the early 19th century, when 820 Lovers Lane experience can be remembered best thing the cave had to offer.” miners extracted saltpeter from the cave sys- as a positive one. “The mysteries and scenery of the cave tem to help make gunpowder during the War had the same dignity that belongs to all natu- At J.C. Kirby & Son Funeral Chapels, we offer a wide selection of options that of 1812, Merideth said. ral objects, and which shames the fine things Mammoth Cave officially recognizes 1816 will help you make the best choices for your loved one. J.C. Kirby & Son to which we foppishly compare them,” as the year guided tours began being offered, Funeral Chapels are more than just a funeral home, we are a unique, locally Emerson wrote. and Merideth said he recently came across owned, hometown funeral home, that sincerely cares about providing the people Johnny Merideth, a tour guide at Mammoth a contemporaneous newspaper account in of this area with the absolute best quality in funeral services available. J.C. Kirby Cave for the past 20 years, said the allure which the author remarked upon how people & Son Funeral Chapels’ goal since the beginning has been to provide the utmost that brought the first waves of curious tour- working in the area seemed to be oblivious ists two centuries ago persists today. in funeral services in the most professional and dignified manner possible. to the natural beauty of the caves. “I think one thing is at its core, and that “There wasn’t the variety of tours that you is caves are inherently interesting, myste- have today, but the tours were overall much rious places, and there are people all over longer in that time,” Merideth said. We are a un ique hometown funeral home that the world who flock to this spot to explore Never mind automobiles – rail travel was and study, and people come to tour and visit cares about providing our community with the best these mysterious places to learn where do See MAMMOTH CAVE, 3 quality funeral and crem ation services! Kaytlynn Kirby Clark, Kevin & Lynn Kirby. ON THE FRONT: TOP: VISITORS TOUR Mammoth Cave’s Rafinesque Hall in 2013. DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO BOTTOM: VISITORS TOUR Mammoth Cave’s Echo River. RAY SCOTT/Courtesy of Wm. Gross Magee ABOVE: TOP RIGHT: PEOPLE DINE in Great Relief Hall in a photo published by E. & H.T. Anthony & Co., circa 1866. 270-843-3111 COURTESY OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TOP LEFT: PEOPLE LINE up in the History Entrance. 820 Lovers Lane www.jckirbyandson.com Bowling Green, KY RAY SCOTT/Courtesy of Wm. Gross Magee THR3 Thrive Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky Sunday, April 3, 2016 3 From Page 2 MAMMOTH CAVE decades in the future in those early days, and southcentral Kentucky held much more wilderness, meaning that the earliest visitors to tour the caves were affluent people with the means and time to make the journey. The presence of saltpeter made the land more valu- able and raised its profile beyond the region, leading MIRANDA PEDERSON/[email protected] some enterprising landown- HORSEBACK RIDERS travel along trails in 2010 as people wait for ers to trade on that reputation their turn on a zip line platform on at Mammoth Cave Adventures. by charging visitors to tour were thoroughly reported in each responsible for about the caves. the media of the time, but 10 percent of spending. The Franklin Gorin, a Glasgow were ultimately unsuccess- remaining visitor dollars attorney, bought the prop- ful, and Collins died after 18 were spent on groceries and erty for $5,000 in 1838. He days of entrapment. camping. sold the property the follow- It was in the early 20th Tabor and leaders in other ing year to Louisville doc- century when support for communities are looking to tor John Croghan, in whose making Mammoth Cave a incorporate the park into a family the caves remained national park gained traction far-reaching plan to encour- for several decades. locally. age more exploration by Stephen Bishop, a slave “We were certainly one of tourists and healthier behav- that Croghan acquired in the the oldest tourist attractions, ior among locals. $10,000 sale, spent the next and the cave itself is incom- The Cave Country Trails several years exploring the parable for its size and his- project seeks to set up a cave system and mapping it, tory,” Merideth said. “There network of connector trails A.V. OLDHAM/Courtesy of Library of Congress and is recognized as the first was a concerted effort on among Barren, Edmonson, Ten women and a man appear in 1912 around the Consumptive’s Room in Mammoth Cave. human to travel through large the part of a large number of Hart and Warren counties. portions of the cave system. citizens, organizations, busi- Plans have evolved over “From about 1838 until nesses and the railroads that the past year, and Cave about the mid-1860s, the were very involved in want- Country Trails is receiving majority of guides were ing to make this a national assistance from the National slaves that would take people park.” Park Service in developing through,” Merideth said. The Mammoth Cave the project and gathering Croghan’s research into the National Park Association public input. well-preserved artifacts left was formed in Bowling When Mammoth Cave over from previous centuries Green in 1926, dedicated to was envisioned as a national inspired him to build a sani- acquiring the land that would park, Tabor said one of the tarium to house patients with be needed for Mammoth early hopes was that having tuberculosis – Croghan’s Cave to gain entry into the that park would enhance the specialty as a doctor and a national park system. area’s outdoor tourism pos- disease that had no cure at Federal legislation passed sibilities. the time. that same year providing for “With the Cave Country “Tours would pass a the creation of Mammoth Trails initiative, we’re con- bizarre scene,” a history of Cave National Park. necting 11 communities sur- Mammoth Cave on the NPS Using private donations rounding the park and revis- website states. “Pale, spectral at first and then receiving iting the original dream,” figures in dressing-gowns state funds, the association Tabor said. “We have an moved weakly along the pas- bought several acres of land opportunity to create some- sageway, slipping in and out for the park.