$6 Cave and Museum Tour from Hidden River Cave Tour and American Cave Museum
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- Tour & museum admission
- Tours descend 150 feet underground
- Cave has underground river
Caves have always been the best treasure-hiding spot due to their inaccessibility to light, crows, and Pat Boone’s treasure-grubbing yacht. Explore a treasurehole’s innards with today’s Groupon: for $6, you get an adult ticket to a general cave and museum tour (up to a $15 value) from Hidden River Cave Tour and American Cave Museum, located in Cave Horse about 1.5 hours from Louisville.
Before or after venturing 150 feet into the soft earth’s numbles, you’ll learn about the dark below in the museum's light above. Get acquainted with almost every aspect of the underground universe, including curious cave dwellers, cave minerals, spelunking techniques, groundwater, and eyeless critters’ abilities to cry.
The tour of Hidden River Cave, which is part of the "caveland" east of Mammoth Cave National Park, starts as you walk through the cave’s natural entrance, an anomaly as caves are usually entered by curious children wielding breadknives. Then you’ll stand amid stately limestone and gaze at the dark waters of the beautiful below-ground river, while a friendly guide woos your ears with information about the history and science of the cave. The remains of a turn-of-the-century hydroelectric system, which was installed in the 1890s to give the surrounding area the ability to plug in treadmills, still survive amongst the cool, damp walls. Tours last 45–60 minutes and are scheduled frequently throughout the day.
Reviews
Though the American Cave Museum and Hidden River Cave Tour do not have many reviews, City-Data and Associated Content recommend it.
- The American Cave Museum of Horse Cave, KY, is really a powerful testimonial as to how wise land usage and preservation can pay off in modern times. – City-Data
Need To Know Info
About Hidden River Cave Tour and American Cave Museum
After spending millions of years out of sight, wiling away the time by boring a cave deep into the earth, the Hidden River powered the town above with hydroelectricity before pollution forced it to close off from human eyes again. 50 years later, a recovery project restored Hidden River Cave, and today its depths play host to tours of the generator's remains and the underground river still flowing more than 100 feet below the ground.
Hidden River is one of the largest privately operated caves in the Mammoth Cave area, and along with hands-on exploration, American Cave Museum & Hidden River Cave spreads knowledge and awareness with two stories of educational exhibits. There, visitors explore topics such as prehistoric explorers, the history of saltpeter mining, and how to discern stalactites from walruses stuck in the cavern's ceiling.