The entrance to Hidden River Cave, once known as Horse Cave, and the cave the city derives its name from. At different times the cave was the city’s water supply, source of electricity and a dumping ground for waste. Tours were offered from 1912-1943, until the increasing pollution and World War II led to a halt in tourism. And it wasn’t for another 50 years that interest in the cave returned, and the American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA) took on the task of rehabilitating the cave, In 1992 the first phase of the current museum and cave tours was developed. And today thousands of visitors come to the cave to enjoy the interesting geology of the karst regions of Kentucky. The cave boasts the longest underground suspension bridge in a cave system.
A view of the entrance to Hidden River Cave (previously known as Horse Cave), in Horse Cave, Kentucky. Horse Cave, Kentucky has the unusual distinction of a city named after the cave that is literally right off main street in the center of the town. The origin of the Horse Cave name is unclear, but some speculate the cave was initially used by Indians or settlers to shelter and water horses and other animals. For a time the cave became the primary source of water and hydroelectric power for the town. However with time and an increasing population that was dumping its waste nearby, the cave’s water supply became polluted, and the tourism that had been building up around the cave vanished. This led to a period of time when the cave lay empty and neglected. But ultimately, after the sources of pollution were eliminated the cave recovered.
Today, the now renamed Hidden River Cave is a thriving tourist attraction along with the other caves (Mammoth Cave being the most well known) in the area. It also hosts the American Cave & Karst Center, a museum and education center about caves operated by the American Cave Conservation Association.
