Mammoth Cave Offers Free Tours On Veterans Day

Cave entrance of the Mammoth Cave Passage Tour.

Edmonson Voice Staff Report:
Mammoth Cave National Park will offer free Mammoth Passage cave tours on Monday, November 11 to honor the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans on Veterans Day. Tours will depart from the visitor center at 9:30 am, 10:30 am, noon, 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm CT. 

Along the Mammoth Passage tour, participants will pass through the Rotunda where in 1922 a monument was placed as part of the American Legion Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, to honor the fallen of the Great War, now known as World War I. Inside the monument, thirty- five states each placed a list of the fallen soldiers from their respective states. In 1929, a second monument was placed by the America War Mothers to also honor the fallen of the Great War. The monuments were rededicated by the park and local veterans’ organizations in 2017, and continue to honor the soldiers who died during that devastating conflict. A video highlighting the rededication will play throughout Veteran’s Day in the park’s visitor center. 

The monuments on display in the Rotunda area of the tour.

Mammoth Passage tour participants must pick up their free tickets in the visitor center before going on a tour. The 3⁄4-mile, 11⁄4-hour Mammoth Passage tour is limited to 70 people, and requires a walk down and up a steep path to the Historic Entrance and 160 steps. The tour explores a vast canyon passageway and discusses a 19th-century saltpeter mining operation and the geologic origins of Mammoth Cave. 

Each year the National Park Service offers several fee free days to provide the opportunity for the public to visit a new place or return to an old favorite, especially one of the national parks that normally charge a fee. For more information about Mammoth Cave National Park events,  visit www.nps.gov/maca ​​