Product Description

Mammoth Cave National Park and the surrounding area comprise the world's most extensive cave system. The region is characterized by what geologists call karst topography, a landscape dotted with sinkholes and caves. One of America's first tourist attractions, the cave was opened to the public in 1816, and was preceded in popularity only by Niagara Falls. The 200 vintage images found in Images of America: Mammoth Cave and the Kentucky Cave Region represent a look back at over 100 years of photography and tourism at Mammoth Cave and other caves that make up the Kentucky Cave Region. Rare images of early transportation, hotels, cave guides, cave tours, as well as important cave discoveries, and cave explorers such as Floyd Collins are shown throughout the book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #834292 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-31
• Released on: 2003-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Review
Title: IMAGES OF AMERICA

Author: Staff Writer

Publisher: National Speleological Society News

Date: Fall 2009



Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series is a diverse collection of several thousand books celebrating the colorful history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the nation. Each volume provides a detailed history—as told in a stunning collection of annotated archival photographs—of the development, culture, and heritage of a particular location. Several books in the series are devoted to caves, since the discovery of a spectacular local cave system has often had a profound influence on shaping the future growth of an area. This is an outstanding collection of books that will be of interest to anyone who enjoys reading about speleohistory, commercial cave operations, the national park system, or Americana in general.



MAMMOTH CAVE AND THE KENTUCKY CAVE REGION - Images of America (2003) by Bob and Judi Thompson. Arcadia Publishing, Chicago. Paperback, 128 pages, 6½" x 9¼" format, ISBN 978-0-7385-1514-4. Available for $19.99. Reviewed by Danny A. Brass.



With 367 miles of surveyed passage, Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave comfortably remains the longest cave in the world. Following a brief introduction that provides a broad overview of Mammoth Cave, readers will be treated to a spectacular visual history of Mammoth Cave and the surrounding region from 1866 to 1941. A collection of two hundred vintage photographs, many of which have never been published before, document almost a century of history at Mammoth Cave. The photographs are arranged so as to correspond to what might be experienced by a visitor to the cave.



Initial photographs show the transportation systems to the cave, including stage coaches, old trains, steamboats and ferries that carried tourists down the Green River, and early automobiles. These are followed by a collection of photographs showing the changing style of the Mammoth Cave Hotel over the years. Photographs of old postcards and brochures provide a flavor for commercial cave advertising of the day. Of course, no history of Mammoth Cave would be complete without details of the famous guides who conducted early tours. Photographs and short biographical sketches of many of the most famous slave guides are included. Like yearbook composites, early tour groups were often photographed before entering the cave and many such photos, such as the cover photo (circa 1920), are included.1 The majority of the text comprises photographs of the cave itself. These include tour groups hiking along old tourist trails; underground meal stops; guides; boat rides along the Echo River; select tourist activities, such as underground weddings; ancient saltpeter works; rooms, passages, and formations; and even the famous tubercular wards—a failed experiment in finding a cure for consumption—of Dr. John Croghan, who owned the cave from 1839 until his own death from tuberculosis in 1849.



The book also contains numerous photographs from the New Entrance of the cave. Once survey studies showed that Mammoth Cave actually extended beyond the property line of the Mammoth Cave Estate, George Morrison blasted into the cave’s passageways from a point on his own property. This enabled him to establish his own commercial cave concern.2



A pictorial history of several other regional caves are also presented, including Floyd Collins’ Crystal Cave, Sand Cave, Great Onyx Cave, Colossal Cave, Hidden River Cave, Mammoth Onyx Cave, Diamond Caverns, and Little River Cave. Occasional reference is made to the great Kentucky cave wars of the early 1900s. An entire chapter is devoted to Floyd Collins and contains more than two dozen photographs of Floyd and the 1925 Sand Cave rescue.



Mammoth Cave and the Kentucky Cave Region provides a wonderful opportunity for looking back through the veil of time into the realm of speleohistory. Taken together, the photographs and text offer readers an interesting and informative look at the history of Mammoth Cave. For those who are interested in reading either Alexander Bullitt’s Rambles in the Mammoth Cave During the Year 1844 by a Visiter (sic) or Roger Brucker’s Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar, Bob and Judi Thompson’s Mammoth Cave and the Kentucky Cave Region is an excellent text to consult at the same time, since it has a host of archival photographs of many of the people and places mentioned in both of these texts.



(1 Readers interested in the wide selection of tours available at Mammoth Cave today would do well to consult the Falcon Guide®, Mammoth Cave National Park: A Guide to Exploring the Caves, Trails, Roads, and Rivers (2006) by Johnny Molloy, Globe Pequot Press.

2 Readers interested in a more modern version of this approach to cave ownership can be found in the recently released book, Opening Goliath (2009) by Cary J. Griffith, Borealis Books - Minnesota Historical Society Press or in the article on Coldwater Cave in the Summer 2009 issue of PRS.)

About the Author
Authors Bob and Judi Thompson have been collecting old photographs and books of the Mammoth Cave area for almost 20 years. They have published numerous articles on Mammoth Cave since 1991. Together they have extensively traveled across the United States visiting caves and collecting historical information. This book is their contribution to the rich history of the Mammoth Cave area.

Customer Reviews

Mommoth Cave
Having visited Mammoth Cave last summer, I found this to a great history book on the cave. The pictures were also great. I wished I would have read it before visiting the cave. I would highly recommend this book.