Historic saltpeter mining operation seen on the Extended Historic Tour of Mammoth Cave

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For reviews of all Mammoth Cave National Park tours, how to get tickets, what to wear, and rules for the tours, see the Cave Tours web page here on National Park Planner. Keep in mind that not all tours are offered year-round, and the schedule of what tours are available changes often. Be sure to check the National Park Service’s official Cave Tours web page for the current schedule.

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OVERVIEW

Tours of Mammoth Cave tend to focus either on history or geology, though a few do cover both topics. The main history-based tours are the Grand Historic Tour, the Extended Historic Tour, and the standard Historic Tour, and everyone visiting Mammoth Cave should take one of these. The Grand Historic Tour is an all encompassing tour of the main section of Mammoth Cave, and it covers not only everything you will see in the other two historic tours, but also sections of the cave that are covered on the River Styx Tour, the Gothic Avenue Tour, and the Star Chamber Lantern Tour (minus seeing the cave by lantern light). It is the historic tour that I recommend the most, but it is not for everyone. It is four hours long and covers four miles, and in truth, four hours is a long time to spend walking and standing inside a cave. It is definitely not for young children or anyone else with a short attention span. Nor is it for those who need to sit down often. Participants should be in good physical condition, like history, and can mentally handle a long tour.

If you have determined that the Grand Historic Tour is not for you, that leaves the Extended Historic Tour and the Historic Tour. As long as tickets are available, always choose the Extended tour. It is only fifteen minutes longer, and it adds nothing in the way of physical difficulty. The only difference between the two is a stop at a former tuberculosis hospital. If all you can get are tickets for the standard Historic Tour, you aren’t missing out on much, but make the Extended tour your first choice.

The Extended Historic Tour runs about two hours and fifteen minutes and covers two miles. There are 540 stairs on the tour, but they do not come all at the same time. There are a few sections with very low ceilings, and anyone other than a child will most likely have to walk bent over. It certainly is not for someone with mobility or other physical health problems, but neither are any of the tours of Mammoth Cave besides the Accessible Tour. If you can walk two miles, bend over, and can climb steps, you shouldn’t have any problems.

Like all tours that enter Mammoth Cave through the Historic Entrance, the Extended Historic Tour starts off down a steep, .2-mile paved hill from the Visitor Center. It is even steeper on the way up, believe me. For a young person or those in great shape, the hill is probably inconsequential. But for those who are older, drastically overweight, or have problems walking up or down steep hills, it’s no picnic. At 59 years old, I dreaded the walk back up to the Visitor Center far more than anything inside the cave. There are benches along the path, and there is no shame in sitting down and resting. I will say that if you get to the bottom and realize that getting back up to the Visitor Center is going to be extremely difficult, you should not be going into the cave in the first place.

Steep path from the Visitor Center to the Historic Entrance of Mammoth Cave

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

Saltpeter Mine

All tours that enter Mammoth Cave through the Historic Entrance pass the remnants of a saltpeter mining operation, though only the history-oriented tours stop to talk about it.

Saltpeter (aka potassium nitrate) is used to make a variety of products, but in the early 1800s it was extremely important for the production of black powder. Output was ramped up once the War of 1812 started, and the mine owners made a lot of money. However, it was overproduced, and when the war ended in February 1815, prices for black powder fell from 97¢ per pound to 7¢, and the mines were shut down. This eventually led to the Mammoth Cave owners turning to tourism to make money. The earliest known cave tours started in 1816.

Potassium nitrate can be produced in a number of ways. One is by extracting calcium nitrate from bat guano (poop), which is commonly found in abundance in the dirt of a cave floor. To do this, the cave dirt is shoveled into large wooden vats. Water, which is brought down from the surface through wooden pipes, is added. After a week of soaking, a slurry forms, and this is pumped back to the surface where it is boiled until the nitrates crystalize and separate from the sludge. Materials high in potassium, such as wood ash or charcoal, are then mixed in with the nitrate to make saltpeter. In the early 1800s, most saltpeter mines shipped their product to the Dupont Company in Delaware where it was turned into gunpowder.

Remnants of the wooden vats and the pipes that once carried water between the surface and the cave floor are still standing inside Mammoth Cave. These artifacts are now over 200 years old, all preserved due to the low temperatures and low humidity of the cave.

Remnants of wooden water pipes used in the Mammoth Cave saltpeter mine

Remnants of wooden vats used to hold cave dirt in the Mammoth Cave saltpeter mining operation

Most of the work was done by slaves. A diorama of the saltpeter operation at Mammoth Cave is on display in the Visitor Center museum, and this accurately depicts the use of slave labor.

Diorama of a saltpeter mining operation on display inside the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center

Methodist Church

The Methodist Church is a stop on many of the Mammoth Cave tours. It gets its name from the Reverend George Gatewood, a Methodist preacher who supposedly held church services at this location in the 1830s, preaching from a rock ledge above the cave floor called Pulpit Rock. Before service began, all lanterns were collected to light the pulpit. Without a lantern, nobody could leave. Gatewood is known to have preached for up to six hours.

Pulpit Rock at the Methodist Church inside Mammoth Cave

Large area of Mammoth Cave next to the Methodist Church

Giant’s Coffin

The Extended Historic Tour continues down the main passageway of Mammoth Cave and stops at a large slab of rock called the Giant’s Coffin. It is 40 feet long and 20 feet tall, and it fell from the ceiling above. If it were possible to lift it up, it could be matched to the exact spot where it was originally located.

The slab was first called Steamboat Rock, but by the 1850s guides were calling it the Giant’s Coffin because the name was more theatrical, and theatrics sold cave tour tickets. The coffin was a popular feature on early tours. Guides could make it look as if the lid was being opened and closed by using their lanterns to cast shadows on the wall behind it.

Giant’s Coffin in the main section of Mammoth Cave

Very little of Mammoth Cave near the Historic Entrance was spared of graffiti, even something like the Giant’s Coffin. Some of the graffiti is modern vandalism. Note the two signatures from 1967 in the photo below.

Modern graffiti on the Giant’s Coffin in the main section of Mammoth Cave

Tuberculosis Hospital Ruins

The standard Historic Tour goes no farther down the main passageway of Mammoth Cave than the Giant’s Coffin, but the Extended Historic Tour (and Grand Historic Tour) continues a little farther to the ruins of what was once a tuberculosis hospital.

Extended Historic Tour visits the tuberculosis hospital inside Mammoth Cave

The hospital was the brainchild of Dr. John Croghan, who in 1839 purchased Mammoth Cave for $10,000. While in Germany, he learned of a theory that tuberculosis could be cured by breathing drier air. He also noted that people who went into Mammoth Cave, either to work or on a tour, often told him that they felt much better breathing the air inside, which was typically drier than the air outside. This gave him the idea of setting up a tuberculosis hospital inside the cave during the winter when the humidity was at its lowest. Two living quarters made of stone and eight made of wood and canvas were built, and sixteen patients came to live in the cave for five months in late 1842 and early 1843. In the end, the experiment was a failure and the hospital was closed. A few patients actually died in the cave, and one is now buried in the Old Guide’s Cemetery that you can see when hiking the Heritage Trail. Today all that remains of the tuberculosis hospital are the two stone quarters, one of which is in poor condition.

Remnants of the Tuberculosis Hospital inside Mammoth Cave

Fat Man’s Misery

The Tuberculosis Hospital marks the Extended Historic Tour’s farthest exploration of the Main Cave, and it now returns to the Giant’s Coffin. A passageway on the left side of the coffin leads to one of the most interesting sections of Mammoth Cave, passing a number of geological features such as the Bottomless Pit before entering into a narrow and sometimes very short (as in low ceilings) passageway called Fat Man’s Misery. Most of Mammoth Cave is exactly that—mammoth. This is why Fat Man’s Misery is so much fun. You won’t be crawling through the dirt on your hands and knees, but it is more of what people expect from a cave—narrow passageways that you have to twist, turn, and stoop to get through.

Passageway to the left of the Giant’s Coffin leads to a narrow section of Mammoth Cave

Getting to Fat Man’s Misery first requires descending a staircase. The ceilings even here are often low, and adult tour participants must constantly duck to avoid hitting their heads. Once at the bottom of the stairs, the tour continues down a passageway with a very low ceiling called Dante’s Gateway.

Staircase down to Dante’s Gateway in Mammoth Cave

Low ceilings of the passageway to the Bottomless Pit and Fat Man’s Squeeze inside Mammoth Cave

Dante’s Gateway inside Mammoth Cave

The first points of interest are Sidesaddle Pit and the Bottomless Pit, with the Bottomless Pit being the more photogenic of the two. In the early days of cave tourism, guides would toss rocks or even lighted torches into the pit so customers could watch them disappear. It wasn’t really bottomless, and explorers eventually figured out it was only 105 feet deep. When done, the group would turn around because there was no way to proceed past this point.

In the 1840s, Stephen Bishop, a guide, cave explorer, and slave, rose to international prominence as an expert on Mammoth Cave. He was often the requested guide for visiting geologists and other scientists, and he learned from each of them until he knew as much as they did. He was the first to cross the Bottomless Pit by placing a ladder across it (horizontally) and then crawling over it with his lantern held by his teeth. Today there is a bridge across the pit.

The Bottomless Pit inside Mammoth Cave

After the Bottomless Pit comes Fat Man’s Misery. At this point you are approximately 260 feet below the surface. This section of Mammoth Cave is a winding passageway that runs for only 100 feet but feels like a mile due to all the twisting and bending you must do. On a typical adult, it is narrower from the waist down and wider from the waist up, giving it a keyhole shape. Near the end, the floor comes up two feet, which means if you were barely walking straight up prior to this, the ceiling is now two feet lower. In all other sections of Mammoth Cave, visitors are asked not to touch any parts of the walls or ceilings. Here it is allowed, for there is no way to make it through without touching the rocks.

The start of Fat Man’s Misery inside Mammoth Cave

Narrow passageways of the Fat Man’s Misery section of Mammoth Cave

The narrow passageway ends at the aptly named Great Relief Hall where, believe it or not, there is a modern restroom facility.

End of Fat Man’s Misery at Great Relief Hall inside Mammoth Cave

River Hall

Once emerging from the Fat Man’s Misery section of Mammoth Cave, the Extended Historic Tour continues down a much wider and taller passageway to River Hall, 283 feet below the surface. This area has seating, and most every cave tour that passes through Fat Man’s Misery stops here for a lecture of some sort. There is a staircase that leads to a fire tower that tour participants must climb in order to get back to the Historic Entrance at the end of the tour.

Lecture area at River Hall inside Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Dome

All tours that reach River Hall eventually proceed out of the cave by way of Mammoth Dome. This is a geological feature that was created when a sinkhole on the surface formed and allowed water to seep into the limestone, eventually eroding a hollow pit approximately 190 feet deep, or 190 feet tall from the perspective of those standing at the bottom. The journey to Mammoth Dome begins by taking the staircase at River Hall through a passageway known as Sparks Avenue.

Staircase through Sparks Avenue eventually leads to Mammoth Dome inside Mammoth Cave

Other than Fat Man’s Misery, Mammoth Dome offers the best photo opportunities on the tour. The formations are known as the Ruins of Karnak.

Ruins of Karnak inside the Mammoth Dome, Mammoth Cave National Park

Calcite formations and the Ruins of Karnak inside the Mammoth Done, Mammoth Cave National Park

Ruins of Karnak inside the Mammoth Dome at Mammoth Cave National Park

The stairs continue at the Ruins of Karnak, and there are a few landings on the way up where you can get different views of the formations.

View of the Ruins of Karnak from the staircase inside Mammoth Dome, Mammoth Cave National Park

View of the Ruins of Karnak from the staircase inside Mammoth Dome, Mammoth Cave National Park

The stairs eventually end at the fire tower, which is just more stairs, except these head straight up through the pit. It’s like climbing a lighthouse, if you’ve ever done that.

Fire tower inside Mammoth Dome, Mammoth Cave National Park

Cave Exit

Once at the top of the fire tower, the Extended Historic Tour continues down Auburn Avenue, a large and uneventful passageway, and comes out at the saltpeter mine. From there, take a left to get back to the Historic Entrance and exit Mammoth Cave.

Visitors to Mammoth Cave exit via the Historic Entrance

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