10 Mind-Boggling Facts About Mammoth Cave National Park

Hidden beneath the rolling green hills of Kentucky is a massive network of sinkholes and caves that make up some of Earth’s most impressive karst areas. This impressive cave system, Mammoth Cave, comprises over 400 caves and an epic amount of biodiversity. This place is so badass that it is not only a National Park, but it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve. Talk about a heavy hitter!

Are you ready to learn more about this impressive park? Let’s check out 10 Mind-Boggling Facts About Mammoth Cave National Park

Table of Contents

10 Mind-Boggling Facts About Mammoth Cave National Park

1. The Cave Dates Back at Least 10 Million Years!

The passages of the cave were created when rivers and streams seeped into the rock beds through small cracks. Over time, this process formed the caves that we know today. It is estimated that although the rock beds are between 320 and 360 million years old, the caves themselves were formed between 10 and 15 million years ago.

2. The Cave Preserves Fossils From Like, A Really Long Time Ago

Some of the bedrock that makes up the cave houses fossils of corals, crinoids, brachiopods, gastropods, and other things you’ll have to Google. Oh, and there are even shark fossils! How did all of these oceanic creatures end up in a cave?

Well, the cave is made up of limestone, sandstone, and shale that’s 300 to 325 million years old. Back in the day, in the Mississippian Period, the whole area was covered with water.

On the upper layers of rock, you’ll find plant and animal fossils from the Pennsylvanian Period, some 2 million to 5 million years ago.

3. The Park Protects the World's Longest Cave Sytem

Explorers have mapped out about 412 miles of the cave and they are still discovering new passages. Some experts believe the cave system could be as much as 200 miles longer. This not only makes Mammoth Cave the longest known cave on Earth, but it’s also at least 2x the size as the second longest cave!

4. It All Started With a Movement

Back in the Roaring 20s, a group of folks got irritated that they could no longer drink (because of Prohibition, of course), and they formed a committee called the Mammoth Cave National Park Association.

These locals helped to establish the national park in 1941.

5. This Bad Boy Has 3 Bad-Ass Accolades

Not only is Mammoth Cave a National Park, it is also an International Biosphere Reserve AND a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

UNESCO took the park under its wing in 1981 because the flora and fauna living in the cave are some of the most superb cave-dwelling wildlife known to man. More than 130 species call the cave home.

The cave also has 100 million years of history embedded within it. The cave holds record of all of the climate changes and geomorphic history. It’s basically nerd heaven!

6. Mammoth Cave is Home to the Endangered Cave Shrimp

As if this place wasn’t already cool enough. Mammoth Cave is also home to the Kentucky Cave Shrimp- a crustacean only found in Kentucky. Big deal, right? Not really, these guys are pretty insane. They have translucent bodies, no eyes (because who needs to see in the pitch-black cave anyway?), and they are endangered.

7. Indigenous People Mined the Caves 5,000 Years Ago

When they weren’t chowing down on Kentucky Cave Shrimp (actually, I don’t know that they ate them…), Native Americans mined minerals from the cave. Using mussel shells from the nearby Green River, they would scrape minerals from the cave. Probably to season their shrimp with.

8. Some of the Park's Greatest Explorers Were Slaves

Practically everything we know about Mammoth Cave today, we know because of slaves. Let that sink in.

From the beginning of the Mammoth Cave’s re-discovery by modern man, African Americans played a vital role in every era of its rich history. Their work and contributions helped to shape the cave as we know it today.

Enslaved people were used to mine saltpeter from the depths of the cave during the War of 1812. The saltpeter was then turned into gunpowder.

Before the Civil War, the cave was a popular tourist destination. Many of these men and women worked in the Mammoth Cave Hotel cleaning rooms, preparing meals, and developing tour routes.

Stephen Bishop was a self-educated enslaved man who worked as a guide and explorer. He is known for exploring and mapping the caves until his death in 1857.

9. Move Over Dasani, There's a New Water Company in Town!

Karst is a type of landscape where the dissolving of the bedrock has created sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, springs, and other characteristic features. Karst is associated with limestone, marble, and other soluble rocks.

Well, it just so happens, MCNP is full karst formations. These act as natural aquifers and collect rainwater underground. These aquifers, and others like them, hold about 40% of our groundwater.

10. Cool Things Are Happening Above Ground, Too

MCNP contains way more than just the caves, it encompasses more than 52,000 acres of wilderness including 60 miles of trails and 30 miles of river.

It is also the site of a super diverse forest habitat. The forest boasts more than 1,300 flowering plant species and a ton of different birds including wood warblers and bald eagles.

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For more inspo for your Kentucky trip, check out 6 National Parks in Kentucky, Kentucky Stonehenge, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, and Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Mammoth Cave.