This is where you can find websites, helpful phone numbers, friends groups and cooperating associations, and, sometimes, books related to the park.
Mammoth Cave National Park: www.nps.gov/maca
Mammoth Cave Visitor Center
Physical Address
1 Mammoth Cave Parkway
Mammoth Cave, KY 42259-0007
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 7
Mammoth Cave, KY 42259-0007
Visitor Information: 270-758-2180
The park is open 24 hours a day, year-round. Visitor Center hours vary by season and is closed Christmas Day.
For various maps, click here.
For information about bringing pets, click here.
An entrance pass is not required to access Mammoth Cave National Park.
Friends Organizations and Cooperating Associations
The Friends of Mammoth Cave National Park, is the authorized non-profit fundraising partner with the Park. They work in cooperation with the National Park Service, to fund projects and programs that protect, preserve, and enhance the natural and cultural resources, and the visitor experience of Mammoth Cave National Park.
Dating back to 1924, The Mammoth Cave National Park Association was the original body of community members who formed to assist in the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park. Today, the non-profit MCNPA supports the park’s Environmental Education Program outreach for students and teachers.
To see a further list of organizations partnering with Mammoth Cave National Park, click here.
Helpful Books
In 1925 the geological connection between Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave was proved when dye placed in a Flint Ridge spring showed up in Echo River at Mammoth Cave. That tantalizing swirl of dye confirmed speculations that wereto tempt more than 650cavers over half a century with the thrill of being the first to make human passage of the cave connection. Roger Brucker and Richard Watson tell not only of their own twenty-year effort to complete the link but the stories of many others who worked their way through mud-choked crawlways less than a foot high only to find impenetrable blockages.
Trapped! The Story Of Floyd Collins
When Floyd Collins became trapped in a cave in southern Kentucky in early 1925, the sensationalism and hysteria of the rescue attempt generated America's first true media spectacle, making Collins's story one of the seminal events of the century. The crowds that gathered outside Sand Cave turned the rescue site into a carnival. Collins's situation was front-page news throughout the country, hourly bulletins interrupted radio programs, and Congress recessed to hear the latest word.
Geological Guide to Mammoth Cave National Park
This book explains the geology and origin of the caves in Mammoth Cave National Park and how they relate to the landscape of the surrounding region in layman's terms. The book's scientific terms and names are explained in such a way that non-geologists can easily understand the geologic processes and landforms which created the caves and cave systems.
Mammoth Cave: A Human And Natural History
This book reveals the science and beauty of Mammoth Cave, the world's longest cave, which has played an important role in the natural sciences. It offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary treatment of the cave, combining insights from leading experts in fields ranging from archeology and cultural history to life science and geosciences. The first animals specialized for cave life in North America, including beetles, spiders, crayfish, and fish, were discovered in Mammoth Cave in the 1840s. It has also been used and explored by humans, including Native Americans, who mined its sulfate minerals and later African-American slaves, who made a map of the cave. More recent stories include 'wars' between commercial cave owners, epic exploration trips by modern cave explorers, and of course tourism.
