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Mammoth Cave National Park

The establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park … makes available to a larger number the natural beauty and grandeur of this section of Kentucky; a cavernous area not found in either comparable size or majesty in any place on the globe.
— Senator Earle C. Clements, Kentucky, 1941
A Universe Beneath
Sounds echo through the caverns, bouncing off walls carved under the earth millennia ago. Water drips off crystallized formations. Bats still flutter through the cool air. Another world lives beneath Kentucky.
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the world's longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles explored, and one of the oldest tour attractions in North America.

Mammoth Cave National Park preserves the cave system, a part of the Green River Valley, and the rolling hills of south central Kentucky. While cave tours of the 10 miles available in the cave are the park's big attraction, there is plenty more to do and explore while visiting this beautiful wilderness area, such as hiking, camping, horseback riding, fishing and kayaking.

In 1926, a group of private citizens formed Mammoth Cave National Park Association to protect the park. Mammoth Cave National Park was officially dedicated as a national park by 1941.Mammoth Cave National Park was officially dedicated at as a national park by 1941. It then became a World Heritage Site in 1981 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990.

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