Hidden River Cave; Secrets Beneath the Surface in Horse Cave Kentucky

Hidden River historic cave tour will take you through one of Kentucky’s largest and most scenic cave entrances where two subterranean rivers flow over one-hundred feet below ground. Walk across the world’s longest underground swinging bridge and step up into Sunset Dome, one of the largest free-standing cave domes in the United States.
You’ll pass the remnants of a turn-of-the-century hydroelectric generating system that once supplied the town overhead with water & electricity and explore areas with seldom seen creatures that live in the darkness underground.

Hidden River Cave is located directly beneath the City of Horse Cave in south central Kentucky. Its main entrance is at 119 East Main Street in the center of town! Hidden River Cave and the American Cave Museum are operated by the American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA), a national nonprofit organization committed to the protection of caves, karstlands and groundwater.
The cave was once the source of drinking water and hydroelectricity for the City of Horse Cave and offered commercial tours from 1912 through 1943. Groundwater pollution from domestic and industrial sewage, combined with the impact of low visitation during World War II and a lawsuit by the L&N Railroad led to the cave’s closing in 1943. For 50 years Hidden River Cave had been all but forgotten except during hot summer months when noxious fumes spewed from its enormous entrance.
In 1987 the American Cave Conservation Association relocated their national headquarters from Richmond, Virginia to Horse Cave at the invitation of William T. (Bill) Austin. Bill had approached two other caving organizations about creating an educational center at Horse Cave without success. As fortune would have it, ACCA was looking for a new home and jumped at the opportunity.
A planning grant from the Economic Development Administration provided funding for a feasibility study and Horse Cave seemed like the perfect place for a national cave and karst center. The site was in an internationally significant cave area near Mammoth Cave National Park, the educational and environmental needs were obvious: a polluted cave right in the middle of town, and the location was in a major tourism travel corridor. At this same time a new regional sewage treatment system was also being developed by the Caveland Sanitation Authority and hopes were high that this would correct the groundwater problems in the cave. In 1989, this system went online.
With sewage no longer draining into the cave, a remarkable recovery began to occur. ACCA continued to raise funds for exhibits and to operate the Karst Center. In 1992, the first phase of the center opened to the public as the American Cave Museum. Since that time, we have raised approximately 7.5 million dollars for land acquisition, construction of the museum, additional exhibits, developing the tour into Hidden River Cave and to fund our ongoing educational and conservation programs.
Today, thousands of visitors and school children tour Hidden River Cave and the American Cave Museum. The museum and the cave, which has been called “the greatest cave restoration success story in the United States” is now open year-round to visitors.

Thanks for joining us for this awesome cave tour!

Keith & Terri