KENTUCKY, the home of legend and romance, has always been a name synonymous with the early pioneer and frontiersman. It was the followers of such men as George Rogers Clark and Daniel Boone who blazed the way into the wilderness and made this the fourteenth state admitted to the Union. Natural landmarks served to guide these people westward unto their "promised land." On this trek they sought as landmarks such physical features as a ford in the river, a mountain pass, or a sheltered spot where protection gave a natural advantage for their few in number. Such was the distinction of Horse Cave, Kentucky.

Just four miles due west of a spot still known as Bear Wallow was a tremendous break in the usual surface features of the landscape. The gigantic proportions of this opening, that seemed to lead to the very bowels of the earth, reached dimensions unheard of before, so with fitting terminology- characteristic of the time when everything of undue size was prefixed with the adjective "horse"- as in horselaugh- the place was christened Horse Cave.

Horse Cave served a much more important purpose for the pioneer, because upon descending a slope of 450 feet from its elliptical surface one approaches, without any great difficulty, the clear, pure waters of a gushing stream. The counterpart of this underlying drainage system is to be found on the surface nowhere, and for the early pioneers this spacious vent served the veritable purposes of an oasis.

Today this underground stream (now known as Hidden River) flows on as before, and in the growth and development of the city that encircles its only approach, it has served a multitude of important purposes. Horse Cave, the largest town in the famous Kentucky cave region, has become unique for its early adventures in the modernization of public works, and in this role Hidden River has always proved an invaluable asset. A water system, providing an unlimited reserve for both consumption and fire prevention, was early installed. Not only did the cave stream afford this water, but it provided the necessary force to boost it into towering supply tanks that stand by for all emergencies. Again its power was harnessed to make the town the second place in the state to enjoy the blessings of an electric lighting system. Today it serves as a fitting museum to depict the works of both nature and man.

The traveler who comes from every corner of the earth now finds well lighted trails (it is America's first electrically lighted cave) that lead into countless avenues, corridors, and expansive dome-shaped rooms. Sunset Dome is truly one of the world's great wonders. Here one can witness in perfect symmetry all the grace and majesty of an exacting architectural design. Its lofty summit seemingly scrapes the clouds of a starless sky. It is a cathedral of silence; an auditorium to provoke a profound realm of thought. In the lightless waters of the cave are millions of eyeless fish (known as Typhilchthys osborni), where they have made their home for aeons. As the streams have slowly hidden themselves from the outdoors, so these denizens of the nether world presumably changed by physical adaptation until today they have become pearly white creatures, without the aid of scale or eyesight, peopling a habitat of total darkness.

Hidden River Cave welcomes and invites you all, and the city of Horse Cave which commands the site of its entrance affords the kind of hospitality synonymous with Kentucky. Ample accommodations in modern hotels, cottages, and tourist homes, along with a number of excellent restaurants, assure accommodations the year round. May you avail yourselves of them.

*Text taken straight from Hidden River Cave brochure from the 1930’s.