Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844 | Page 2

it abounds during the Spring and Autumn
months. Munfordsville, and Woodsonville directly opposite, are
situated on Green river, on high and broken ground. They are small
places, in each of which, however, are comfortable inns. Boats laden
with tobacco and other produce, descend from this point and from a
considerable distance above, to New Orleans. About two and a half
miles beyond Munfordsville, the new State road to the Cave, (virtually
made by Dr. Croghan, at a great expense,) leaves the Turnpike, and
joins it again at the Dripping Springs, eight miles below, on the route to
Nashville. This road, in going from Louisville to Nashville, is not only
the shortest by three and a half miles, but to the Cave it is from ten to
twelve miles shorter than the one taken by visiters previous to its
construction. It therefore lessens the inconvenience, delay and
consequent expense to which travelers were formerly subjected. The
road itself is an excellent one, the country through which it passes
highly picturesque, and Dr. Croghan has entitled himself to the
gratitude of the traveling community by his liberality and enterprise in
constructing it.
Persons visiting the Cave by Steamer, (a boat leaves Louisville for
Bowling-Green every week) will find much to interest them in the
admirable locks and dams, rendering the navigation of Green river safe
and good at all seasons for boats of a large class. Passengers can obtain
conveyances at all times and at moderate rates, from Bowling-Green,
by the Dripping Spring, to the Cave, distant twenty-two miles. Fifteen
miles of this road is M'Adamized, the remainder is graded and not
inferior to the finished portion. The last eight miles from the Dripping
Spring to the Cave, cannot fail to excite the admiration of every one
who delights in beholding wild and beautiful scenery. A visit to the
Cedar Springs on this route, is alone worth a journey of many miles.

Passengers on the upper turnpike, from Bardstown to Nashville, can, on
reaching Glasgow, at all times procure conveyances to the Cave, either
by Bell's or by Prewett's Knob.
Arrived at the Cave, the visitor alights at a spacious hotel, the general
arrangements, attendance and cuisine of which, are adapted to the most
fastidious taste. He feels that as far as the "creature comforts" are
necessary to enjoyment, the prospect is full of promise; nor will he be
disappointed. And now, this first and most important preliminary to a
traveler settled to his perfect content, he may remain for weeks and
experience daily gratification, "Stephen his guide," in wandering
through some of its two hundred and twenty-six avenues--in gazing,
until he is oppressed with the feeling of their magnificence, at some of
its forty-seven domes,--in listening, until their drowsy murmurs pain
the sense, to some of its many water-falls,--or haply intent upon
discovery, he hails some new vista, or fretted roof, or secret river, or
unsounded lake, or crystal fountain, with as much rapture as Balboa,
from "that peak in Darien," gazed on the Pacific; he is assured that he
"has a poet," and an historian too. Stephen has linked his name to dome,
or avenue, or river, and it is already immortal--in the Cave.
Independent of the attractions to be found in the Cave, there is much
above ground to gratify the different tastes of visiters. There is a
capacious ball-room, ninety feet by thirty, with a fine band of music,--a
ten-pin alley,--romantic walks and carriage-drives in all directions,
rendered easy of access by the fine road recently finished. The many
rare and beautiful flowers in the immediate vicinity of the Cave, invite
to exercise, and bouquets as exquisite as were ever culled in garden or
green-house, may be obtained even as late as August. The fine sport the
neighborhood affords to the hunter and the angler--Green river, just at
hand, offers such "store of fish," as father Walton or his son and
disciple Cotton, were they alive again, would love to meditate and
angle in!--and the woods! Capt. Scott or Christopher North himself,
might grow weary of the sight of game, winged or quadruped.

INTERESTING FACTS.

1. Accidents of no kind have ever occurred in the Mammoth Cave.
2. Visiters, going in or coming out of the Cave, are not liable to
contract colds; on the contrary, colds are commonly relieved by a visit
in the Cave.
3. No impure air exists in any part of the Cave.
4. Reptiles, of no description, have ever been seen in the Cave; on the
contrary, they, as well as quadrupeds, avoid it.
5. Combustion is perfect in all parts of the Cave.
6. Decomposition and consequent putrefaction are unobservable in all
parts of the Cave.
7. The water of the Cave is of the purest kind; and, besides fresh water,
there are