| Mammoth Cave National Park | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Rotunda Room at Mammoth Cave | |
  Location in Kentucky  Location in the United States | |
| Location | Edmonson, Hart, and Barren counties, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Nearest city | Brownsville |
| Coordinates | 37°11′13″N 86°06′04″W / 37.18694°N 86.10111°W |
| Area | 52,830 acres (213.8 km2)[1] |
| Established | July 1, 1941 |
| Visitors | 533,206 (in 2018)[2] |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Mammoth Cave National Park |
| Criteria | Natural: vii, viii, x |
| Reference | 150 |
| Inscription | 1981 (5th Session) |
Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest known cave system in the world. The park's 52,830 acres (21,380 ha) are located primarily in Edmonson County, with small areas extending eastward into Hart and Barren counties. The Green River runs through the park, with a tributary called the Nolin River feeding into the Green just inside the park.
The cave system has formally been known as the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System since 1972, when a connection was discovered between Mammoth Cave and the even longer system under Flint Ridge to the north.[3] As of 2022, more than 426 miles (686 km) of passageways had been surveyed,[4][5] over 1.5 times longer than the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave.[6]
The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941, after oft-contentious eminent domain proceedings whose consequences still affect the region. It was named a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981; an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990; and an International Dark Sky Park on October 28, 2021.
- ^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved March 7, 2012. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
- ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
- ^ "Exploring the World's Longest Known Cave (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
- ^ "A Grand, Gloomy and Peculiar Place". nps.gov. National Park Service. May 22, 2018. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ^ "Mammoth Cave just got a little more "Mammoth"". National Park Service. National Park Service (NPS). September 8, 2022. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ Bob Gulden (January 7, 2018). "Worlds longest caves". Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves. National Speleological Society (NSS). Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
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