The most northern part of our trip was Smiths Grove, Kentucky. That’s where my mom was born. This was my fourth, and perhaps final, visit. When Ruth and I stopped in 2019 there wasn’t anyone home, and this time was no different. Elizabeth knocked on the door, but no one answered.
I did a little research and know who owns the property. I plan to reach out via snail mail. If I learn anything more, I’ll write about it.
Unlike the last time I stopped, the weather was great, so I walked the property a bit. I’m glad I did because I found the cave that Grandpa Barner used to store milk, vegetables and eggs back in the early twenties. As I’ve written before, his animals developed hoof and mouth disease, so he put them all down before abandoning the farm. He moved to Detroit from the homestead one-hundred and two years ago. He hoped to take advantage of Henry Ford’s promise of five dollars for a day’s work..
It’s about twenty miles from Mammoth Cave National Park to Smiths Grove. We saw the signs for the park but didn’t stop. We did talk about one of the trips we made when Elizabeth was young. I think she was four or five, while she thinks she was about nine. The one thing we do agree on is she was afraid of the stairs leading down into the cave.
David, Michael and Ruth were with BZ and me. I remember Ruth carrying Michael down and I carried BZ. If she was nine, I don’t think I would have done that. In any case, fear is fear and she remembers the descent into the mouth of the beast. My 
words. Not hers.
Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world, boasting over 400 miles of surveyed passageways that reveal 100 million years of geological history. It’s like a natural laboratory, filled with rare minerals and unique wildlife. I’m not sure if the Smiths Grove cave is part of the system—probably not—but there are plenty of well-known caves in the area. Some of the coolest inhabitants are the blind fish, especially the famous eyeless cavefish.
The cave’s Bridal Altar was a popular underground wedding spot in the 1800s and early 1900s. Couples would stand beneath three massive dripstone columns to exchange vows. The columns formed from stalactites and stalagmites that grew together. Stalactites hang from the ceiling. Stalagmites rise from the floor. When they grow long enough to meet, they form a column. It’s a single continuous dripstone pillar from floor to ceiling. They’re formed from minerals dissolved in water, which gradually precipitate out as the water drips. They’ve been piling up over thousands of years.
I was nine or ten when I first heard a story about the altar and saw the columns. In fact, I stood close enough to see the deep drop behind the altar. My cousin Gene and I went into the cave with my Grandpa Barner, and our guide told us that some brides and grooms—mostly grooms, I suspect—would push their partner off the altar to their death, then climb back out to stay single.
Maybe that’s why weddings aren’t allowed in the cave anymore.
TBC