Deep Hole in the Ground.....

We only drove 241 miles today....  We took some time to visit the Mammoth Caves near park City.  Todays post is the historical entrance to the labyrinth  of caves that is 421 miles long.  they are all connected, winding back and forth where the water has erode minerals.  It is famous for Salt Peter (used to ignite gun powder in guns and cannons), for carbonate, and for gypsum among a few.  During the Revolutionary war the caves (1791) were discovered and the minerals helped to turn the tide of  the war, both militarily and financial.    Gypsum, though not mined there anymore is still used today in several products.  It was cool and dry.   The environment down there is very stable and consistent..  Some of the artifacts down there are still in the same condition as they were 1790's because the air is so stable.  Everything is where it was dropped when the mining ceased.
    The next stop was out of curiosity......   we saw a very tall monument sticking high up in the air.  All we had to do was follow the road and find the turn where we needed to go, with monument towering way over the tree tops.   We found the monument was a memorial to the birth place of Jefferson Davis.  He was the first president of the Confederate movement.  There wasn't a lot of information.  It looked like there had been a farm there with all of the stone fences, we found an old cemetery, that had been vandalized....   stones were cracked and strewn about, so it was hard to know what it's significance was.  Across the street was a beautiful, old colonial house painted a light pinkish color.
   Our 3rd stop was at the Land Between Lakes historical Working Farm from the 1850's.  There was so much I could have shared, I chose 2 pics of the inside of the farm house and how the people lived at that time.  One is a childs room shared with a baby.  The other is where cooking and eating took place.

    Mary is busy over at the desk, planning the next leg of our grand adventure.  She loves maps, loves to pour over them, flip from page to page and devour all the information.     Me?  I am smart enough to know when I have a good thing and let her run with it.  I give hints of neat places to visit and Whalla!!!!!         She makes it happen!

Extra ! The colonial house that we guess was the home of the place of birth.
Extra 2: Taken at the Mammoth Caves....   replica of the labyrinth of underground caves the winds back and forth for over 421 miles.  The caves         are inter connected as they descend downward.  All of them were excavated by water the dissolved the minerals and washed them away.  Minerals were mined, but the caves were not dug out by men.  Men merely removed material that was already exposed .   Fascinating!