Post by L Roebuck on Oct 13, 2005 11:05:57 GMT -5
Cumberland Gap is more than just history
By MORGAN SIMMONS, simmonsm@knews.com
October 7, 2005
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is so steeped in history, it's easy to forget it has more to offer.
The park covers 21,000 acres, 14,000 acres of which are managed as wilderness. Within its boundaries are 23 cave systems and 70 miles of hiking trails. Black bear and elk are returning to the park, and two or three times a year, park rangers receive reliable reports of mountain lions.
Every year Cumberland Gap National Historical Park holds a fall festival. In past years, the focus has been on the gap's role as a gateway for western expansion in the days of Daniel Boone.
This year, for the first time, the theme will be nature.
Throughout the weekend, visitors will be treated to numerous exhibits, displays, demonstrations, entertainment and special activities that will showcase the park's natural resources.
One of the park's most popular natural attractions is Cudjo Cave, a limestone cavern that over the decades has been known by a variety of names, including Gap Cave and Soldier's Cave.
This year's "Wild Mountain Mania" Nature Festival will include a reunion of Cudjo Cave guides representing every decade since the 1930s.
One of those who will attend is 83-year-old Elmer Surber, of Harrogate, who led tourists through Cudjo Cave from 1939 to 1941.
Surber guided during the summers while he was in high school. He made $2 a day, plus tips. He remembers a souvenir stand on U.S. Highway 25E, across from the cave's entrance.
Lincoln Memorial University owned Cudjo Cave prior to the creation of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in 1959. During its pre-park history, the cave was leased by a succession of business people who operated guided tours. The first - and perhaps most colorful - of these was Bill Holbrook and Dud Essary, who developed Cudjo Cave as a show cave by putting in footpaths and stringing it with electric lights.
"My favorite thing was to ask tourists if they wanted to see what the cave was like before electricity," Surber said. "I'd turn out the lights so they couldn't see the hand in front of their face."
As part of the $280 million restoration of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Cudjo Cave has been refurbished. Graffiti has been washed off the walls, and the old lighting system has been removed. Today, visitors tour the cave with hand-held lanterns.
The National Park Service conducts cave tours at 10 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on weekends. The tours take about two hours and include 1.5 miles of walking, with 183 steps negotiated through the cave.
The cave's formations have names like "The Pillar of Hercules," "Cleopatra's Dome" and "King Solomon's Sepulcher" and were formed by the dissolution of limestone by groundwater and underground streams over eons.
Recently, the Cave Research Foundation, the Pine Mountain Grotto and Lincoln Memorial University have joined together to survey and map new passages in Cudjo Cave.
Volunteers have been meeting about once a month since their first expedition into the cave in 2003. The cave is expected to be at least 10 miles long and may prove to be much longer after all leads are explored. The new passages are not part of the park's public cave tour.
Only half of the known passages have been mapped, and exploration of the cave is expected to last at least another seven years.
Carol Borneman, ranger with Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, said that what the public sees of Cudjo Cave is just the tip of the iceberg.
"We don't know how far the cave goes," Borneman said. "New passage is being discovered all the time. Who knows what Cudjo Cave holds in terms of new organisms, or minerals that might form a cure for disease?"
Morgan Simmons may be reached at 865-342-6321.
Knox News
www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4138909,00.html
By MORGAN SIMMONS, simmonsm@knews.com
October 7, 2005
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is so steeped in history, it's easy to forget it has more to offer.
The park covers 21,000 acres, 14,000 acres of which are managed as wilderness. Within its boundaries are 23 cave systems and 70 miles of hiking trails. Black bear and elk are returning to the park, and two or three times a year, park rangers receive reliable reports of mountain lions.
Every year Cumberland Gap National Historical Park holds a fall festival. In past years, the focus has been on the gap's role as a gateway for western expansion in the days of Daniel Boone.
This year, for the first time, the theme will be nature.
Throughout the weekend, visitors will be treated to numerous exhibits, displays, demonstrations, entertainment and special activities that will showcase the park's natural resources.
One of the park's most popular natural attractions is Cudjo Cave, a limestone cavern that over the decades has been known by a variety of names, including Gap Cave and Soldier's Cave.
This year's "Wild Mountain Mania" Nature Festival will include a reunion of Cudjo Cave guides representing every decade since the 1930s.
One of those who will attend is 83-year-old Elmer Surber, of Harrogate, who led tourists through Cudjo Cave from 1939 to 1941.
Surber guided during the summers while he was in high school. He made $2 a day, plus tips. He remembers a souvenir stand on U.S. Highway 25E, across from the cave's entrance.
Lincoln Memorial University owned Cudjo Cave prior to the creation of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in 1959. During its pre-park history, the cave was leased by a succession of business people who operated guided tours. The first - and perhaps most colorful - of these was Bill Holbrook and Dud Essary, who developed Cudjo Cave as a show cave by putting in footpaths and stringing it with electric lights.
"My favorite thing was to ask tourists if they wanted to see what the cave was like before electricity," Surber said. "I'd turn out the lights so they couldn't see the hand in front of their face."
As part of the $280 million restoration of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Cudjo Cave has been refurbished. Graffiti has been washed off the walls, and the old lighting system has been removed. Today, visitors tour the cave with hand-held lanterns.
The National Park Service conducts cave tours at 10 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on weekends. The tours take about two hours and include 1.5 miles of walking, with 183 steps negotiated through the cave.
The cave's formations have names like "The Pillar of Hercules," "Cleopatra's Dome" and "King Solomon's Sepulcher" and were formed by the dissolution of limestone by groundwater and underground streams over eons.
Recently, the Cave Research Foundation, the Pine Mountain Grotto and Lincoln Memorial University have joined together to survey and map new passages in Cudjo Cave.
Volunteers have been meeting about once a month since their first expedition into the cave in 2003. The cave is expected to be at least 10 miles long and may prove to be much longer after all leads are explored. The new passages are not part of the park's public cave tour.
Only half of the known passages have been mapped, and exploration of the cave is expected to last at least another seven years.
Carol Borneman, ranger with Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, said that what the public sees of Cudjo Cave is just the tip of the iceberg.
"We don't know how far the cave goes," Borneman said. "New passage is being discovered all the time. Who knows what Cudjo Cave holds in terms of new organisms, or minerals that might form a cure for disease?"
Morgan Simmons may be reached at 865-342-6321.
Knox News
www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4138909,00.html
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