This Kentucky Cave Was Discovered by a 10-Year-Old Little Girl

Kentucky Cave Country draws visitors from literally all over the globe. Mammoth Cave National Park is the largest known cave system in the world offering many ways to explore the area and learn the history of ancient ecosystems that once thrived there.

Home to 130 caves, Kentucky can thank its underbelly of Limestone and porous rock for these natural wonders to explore. In fact, Cave City not only touts Mammoth Cave, but Crystal Onyx Cave, Sand Cave, and Mammoth Onyx Cave that's located inside Kentucky Down Under. Just one of the many fun attractions Cave City has to offer, it makes for a great family weekend trip.

My mom and I took my son Rollins one weekend a couple of years ago to explore the Bluegrass version of "Down Under" and had a blast.

When we chatted about our day, we all agreed that our favorite part, other than getting to pet kangaroos, was the Mammoth Onyx Cave tour. Rollins was especially impressed that the cave portion was once discovered by a little girl.

The story our guide told was that In 1799, 10-year-old Martha Woodson was out picking blackberries with her brothers. She discovered a hole in the ground and felt cold air blowing up out of it, so she got curious. Climbing part of the way down, Martha noticed that it was an enormous cavern full of beautiful rock formations with a source of running water. She was smart to stop there and return to the surface to tell her brothers and they all ran to get their father.

That picture shows the hole and original entrance to the cave. With their lamps, the Woodsons could see that the passageway was about 700 feet long.  Funny enough, they did not share their secret find with anyone. Instead, the family used the hidden cave for storing food and for fresh water.

It wasn't until 1924 after the land ended up in the hands of the Austin family that the cave was prepared for yours and opened to the public. You can read a full description here from a Mammoth Onyx Cave visitor.

One of the coolest parts of the tour, literally, was the fact that we visited on a day with 110 degree heat index, but you would have never known once we made our way down the rock stairs. It was actually pretty chilly! A nice relief. Tours, only about a half hour long, are given multiple times throughout the day and are included in your ticket to Kentucky Down Under.

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