Hidden River Cave

Hidden River Cave & American Cave Museum

Useful Information

Location:	119 East Main Street, Horse Cave, KY 42749. Horse Cave, I-65, exit 58, 3.2 km. (37.179289, -85.905726)
Open:	All year daily 8:30-18. Closed 01-JAN, Thanksgiving Day, 25-DEC. [2024]
Fee:	American Cave Museum: free. Hidden River Cave: Adults USD 25, Children (6-14) USD 12, Children (0-5) free, Military free. Cave Trekking: Adults USD 53. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave river cave. Cave and Karst Museum Cave Replica
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	L=1.6 km, D=1 h, St=650.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:	Samantha Katherine Feist (2017): Investigation Of Sediment Pathways In Hidden River Cave, Kentucky, Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies. pdf online
Address:	Hidden River Cave & the American Cave Museum, 119 East Main Street, Horse Cave, KY 42749, Tel. +1-502-786-1466. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1784	explored by Daniel Boone.
1867	visited by John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.
1886	Dr. George A. Thomas moves to Horse Cave to establish a dental practice.
1887	Dr. George A. Thomas purchases the cave for $375 and installs the water pumping system.
1916	opened as a show cave, renamed Hidden River Cave.
1943	closed as a tourist attraction due to industrial and domestic waste, making it the most polluted cave in North America, emitting noxious odors.
1992	begin of the cleanup by the American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA), museum established.
1993	reopened as a show cave after a new waste water treatment facility was erected.
2018	swinging bridge to Sunset Dome completed and opened to the public.

Description

Horse Cave is a small town well known for the large natural cave opening located on the South side of Main Street. This is the entrance to Hidden River Cave, named after the large, fast-flowing cave river. Obviously the name of the town is derived from the cave too, but there are several stories about that. One story tells that American Indians often hid their horses in the cave. Then there is the story of an early carriage, which lost its horse in an accident, as it fell into the cave opening. The most likely tale is, that the word horse was simply a 19th Century adjective implying huge, describing the huge entrance portal. The cave was originally named Horse Cave and the town was named after the cave, but when the cave was opened as a show cave in 1916, Dr. H. B. Thomas ran a local contest to rename the cave, and the name “Hidden River Cave” was chosen for tourist use.

The cave with its fresh water was an important reason for founding the village right here. At the time of the Civil War the L&N Railroad had a stop at this location to gather water. This led to the development of commerce. The town was named Caverna at this time, the local high school district is still known as Caverna.

According to local lore Daniel Boone explored the cave prior to 1784. The famous John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and “Father of the National Parks”, visited the cave in 1867. More important is that he documented the visit very well in his 1916 book A Thousand-Mile Walk To The Gulf. In the same year the Thomas family, who owned the cave, opened it as a show cave. Dr. George Alfred Thomas had moved to Horse Cave to establish a dental practice in 1886, and a year later he purchased the cave for $375. He installed the water pumping system, and a few years later, in 1892, he also installed the second hydroelectric generator inside a cave in Kentucky. But it was opened as a show cave by his son, Dr. Harry B. Thomas. He actually owned and operated three tourist caves in the 1930s, Hidden River Cave, Mammoth Onyx Cave and Floyd Collin’s Crystal Cave. The last was operated by his grandson William "Bill" Austin.

The cave was used by the villagers for many purposes. Most important, the town's drinking water was taken from the cave. The cave river provided the energy to drive a dynamo, which provided electricity for the drinking water pumps. For a while during the late 19th century, Horse Cave was the only town in Kentucky outside of Louisville, which had electric lights. During the first decades, the cool air was used to air-condition several buildings alongside Main Street. In the entrance, the world's only "air-conditioned" tennis courts were located during the 1920s.

A hundred years ago the people knew nothing about the underground water flow in this karst area. Sewage seeped into the cave and polluted the drinking water. The cave became severely polluted and was closed for tours in 1943 for 50 years. By the mid 1930 the water was so polluted, it could not be used as fresh water any more. But in 1943 the cave emitted noxious odors. And in the 1950s the vile odors permeated the entire business district, especially during the summer months. As a result even the cooling aspect could not be used any more and the whole area was avoided. A first step was the construction of a domestic sewage treatment plant by the community in 1963. But the wastewater from this plant went straight into wells which were connected to the cave and so it actually increased the problem. Another spectacular event was a leaking tank which lost thousands of liters of petrol into the cave in 1975. The petrol stench appeared in numerous basements in the area. Efforts made to prevent groundwater pollution in the region have largely restored the cave to an acceptable condition. The water of the river returned to almost drinking water quality around 2015. IN the next years the cave tour was developed by constructing a bridge and a trail to sunset dome. The whole tour was finally completed in 2020, but the first sections were opened to the public as soon as they were completed.

The site is normally listed as Hidden River Cave & American Cave Museum, the second part, the American Cave Museum was created in 1992, while the cave was still closed, and it was unclear if it would ever be reopened. It is dubbed “a little bit of the Smithsonian in rural Kentucky.” Educational and informative exhibits explain caves and karst, their history and scientific exploration. On two floors exhibits on karst geology, groundwater, archaeology and the uses of caves can be seen. It includes an Environmental Education Center operated by the American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA). The museum has a two-story artificial cave, complete with stalactites and stalagmites, obviously built while the cave was still closed to the public, to allow the experience of a cave. Some more specific exhibitions are about the History of Mammoth Cave, The story of Floyd Collins, and Saltpeter mining in Kentucky Caves. The Cave is far outside Mammoth Cave National Park, but it still belongs to the Mammoth Cave Area.

The Hidden River Cave is again open for tours which are called historic cave tours since 2020. Through one of Kentucky’s largest and most scenic cave entrances the cave with its two rivers in entered. Part of the tour is crossing the world’s longest underground swinging bridge, which is 30 m long. Quite spectacular is Sunset Dome, one of the largest freestanding cave domes in the United States. Wrongly dubbed the world’s largest cave dome, it is actually 30 m high, 45 m wide and 60 m long, which is definitely impressive. The ceiling forms a circular dome, which was formed by the collapse of horizontal layers of limestone, a quite common process called Speleology Incasion. Another highlight is the turn-of-the-century hydroelectric power plant.

And there are cave trekking tours, which were started under the name Hidden River Cave Ecology Tour. Today they are called Off-Trail Cave Adventure Tour. The tour to upstream passages along unimproved trails takes three to four hours. The tour explores the factors that lead to the contamination of the cave and its remarkable recovery. It stresses the importance of cave safety and focuses on protection of cave resources and groundwater. This tour is strenuous, minimum age 12, cave helmets and headlamps are provided, bring clothes to change.