69 Best Sights in Kentucky, USA

John Wesley Hunt, the first millionaire west of the Appalachians, built this Federal-style house in Lexington's Gratz Park district in the early 1800s. His grandson, John Hunt Morgan was a Confederate cavalry officer. Family furniture decorates the house, which also has a small Civil War museum.

A handful of structures remain from the communities that existed before this park was established including three churches: Mammoth Cave Baptist Church, Good Spring Church, and Joppa Church. Joppa Church was established in 1862, but the present building was built around 1900. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. An outdoor exhibit gives some of its history.

Among the area’s most popular attractions for families, the park offers a variety of activities for thrill seekers, including an alpine slide and a zip-line course that can accommodate two people per line (you can opt to go tandem with a guide, if you’re nervous). It also has go-karts, bumper cars and boats, miniature golf, and a giant harness trampoline. Horseback trail rides and canoeing tours are also offered. If you want to stay here, there's a campground and very basic, rustic cabins (you’ll need to bring your own sleeping bag).

This redbrick Georgian plantation house was built around 1790 by William and Lucy Croghan, who was George Rogers Clark's sister (the Revolutionary War hero and founder of Louisville lived here during the last nine years of his life). The 55-acre grounds include eight outbuildings and restored gardens; the last tour departs at 3:30.

You can't miss this place—a seven-story baseball bat leans against the building housing the museum and bat factory. (An appropriately sized baseball is imbedded in one window of the plate glass factory next door, too.) Step up to the plate at the very scary virtual pitching diamond. Autographed bats of virtually every baseball great are also on display.

More than 1,300 animals from around the world live here in landscaped settings. The Gorilla Forest, home to Lowland Gorillas, is an award-winning exhibit; birds will perch on your shoulder at Lorikeet Landing. Other zoo residents include polar bears, lions, tigers, penguins, timber wolves, and Komodo dragons.

Two miles from the visitor center along Flint Ridge Road stands one of three churches that remain from the time before the park was formed. In its adjacent cemetery lies the resting place of the ill-fated cave explorer Floyd Collins, as well as people from the communities that called the area home before it became a national park. Note: The cemeteries in the park are places of repose for the dead. Please respect their sanctity when you visit.

Before the age of the automobile, travelers often reached Mammoth Cave on the Mammoth Cave Railroad, a spur line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. (The L&N became the modern CSX line, which offers no passenger service through the region today.) The rails may be gone, but the entire route is now the Mammoth Cave Railroad Bike & Hike Trail, which begins at the southern park boundary at Park City, and ends at the visitor center, where you can see one of the original engines and its passenger car. Historic stops along the way with parking are at Diamond Caverns, Locust Grove, Sloan's Crossing Pond, and Doyel Valley Overlook. Other historic points of interest accessible on foot or by mountain bike include the sites of Union City and Doyel Valley Trestle, Ferguson Cemetery, and Engine No. 4.

The Mammoth Cave Railroad had its origin station at the site of Bell's Tavern in Park City, the stone remains of which are available to public view in the city park. Diamond Caverns, a show cave unconnected to Mammoth Cave that was a stop along the line, continues to operate today as a private business, and is not part of the national park.

The Mammoth Cave Railroad once brought travelers along a special spur line just to see the cave. Now, its route is a path for hikers and mountain bikers to do the same. This north leg of the bike and hike trail extends from the visitor center area where old Engine No. 4 stands on display, to the Doyel Valley Overlook along the Mammoth Cave Parkway, then joins the south leg at Sloan's Crossing Pond. A spur near the overlook leads to Ferguson Cemetery. Outdoor exhibits share history along the way. The trail surface is rough gravel suitable only for mountain bikes and hikers; use caution on steeper grades and at the road crossings. A 0.2-mile spur connects the beginning of the trail with the front of the visitor center. 4 miles. Moderate.

Designed for hikers and bicyclists, this leg of the Mammoth Cave Railroad Bike & Hike Trail follows the path of the original Mammoth Cave Railroad, a spur line of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, that brought travelers to visit Mammoth Cave before the turn of the 20th century. This leg visits historic points at Diamond Caverns, Union City, and Locust Grove, ending at Sloan's Crossing Pond. Outdoor exhibit panels share history along the route. The trail surface is rough gravel, suitable for mountain bikes and hikers only. Road crossing is required; be alert for oncoming traffic. 

An extension of the trail continues south of the park into Park City, to the ruins of Bell's Tavern in the city park, the site of the railroad station where the Mammoth Cave Railroad originated.

Diamond Caverns, a location on the trail, is a privately owned show cave and is not part of the national park. Diamond Caverns is not known to be connected to the Mammoth Cave system. 5 miles. Moderate.

The visitor center, perched on the ridgetop just above the cave's renowned Historic Entrance, is the hub of all park activity. All cave tours begin and end here, as well as all other ranger-led activities. This is where you purchase and pick up tickets and backcountry camping permits, shop for books and souvenirs at the bookstore and gift areas, and find the restrooms. The visitor center is connected by a short footbridge to the food service areas at the Lodge at Mammoth Cave. The information desk is centrally located, with tour schedules prominently posted, and maps available. This is also the place where young people start and complete the Junior Ranger Program. The visitor center includes a large museum space with exhibits that enrich visitors with an understanding of the park's complex nature, culture, and communities—a visit here is recommended before you tour the cave. The visitor center is also the embarkation point for many of the 14 miles of trails in the area.

This multiuse hub trail extends from the parking at Maple Springs Trailhead through the interior of the Maple Springs Loop to join Big Hollow Trail and Mill Branch Trail at the Big Hollow Trailhead. A short spur leads to the Maple Springs Group Campground. Horses are not permitted on Big Hollow Trail. 1 mi. Easy.

This two-story Georgian house, built from 1803 to 1806, was originally an inn. Abraham Lincoln courted Mary Todd, who lived here with her parents, when he came to visit Kentucky friends. This was the first historic site to be restored in honor of a First Lady.

McCoy Hollow Trail is a rugged, challenging trail with loose rock, switchbacks, steep climbs, and wet places, but it rewards the hiker with some splendid views out over the hollows. The Three Springs backcountry campsite can be accessed by a spur trail at 0.8 mile, and the McCoy Hollow backcountry campsite spur is found at 4.4 miles. The trail ends at a junction with Wet Prong Trail. Horses and hiking only. 6.4 mi. Difficult. Note: McCoy Hollow Trail forms a 19.1-mile loop with First Creek Trail and Wet Prong Trail that can be accessed from either First Creek Trailhead or Temple Hill Trailhead.

This cemetery is one of more than 80 cemeteries found throughout the park, reminders of the people of the early 20th-century communities that once called these Kentucky hills home. Many of these cemeteries are still visited by the descendants of those buried in them, people who still live and work in the communities surrounding the park.

This woodland trail leads to one of the more than 80 cemeteries that remain within Mammoth Cave National Park. Horses and hiking only. 0.3 mi. Easy.

Mill Branch is rocky and steep in places, in others smooth and steady, and there are stream crossings. The trail descends along drainage toward the Dry Prong of Buffalo Creek, then climbs up Collie Ridge to join Collie Ridge Trail 2.5 miles south of Lincoln Trailhead. Horses and hiking only. 3 mi. Moderate.

One of about 80 cemeteries located within the park, this cemetery contains the resting place of famed Mammoth Cave Guide Stephen Bishop. First as an enslaved guide and then as a free man, Bishop spent almost 20 years giving tours Mammoth Cave. He is considered by many to be the cave's most famous guide and explorer. Exhibits at the site help to locate his stone within the enclosure and also discuss other African American guides of Mammoth Cave, as well as the old Mammoth Cave Estate. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery is also the final resting place to three patients from the 1842 Tuberculosis Experiment conducted in the cave.

A less crowded alternative to Mammoth Cave, Onyx Cave has a variety of beautiful formations, including delicate crystalline draperies and rimstone pools. Stalactites, stalagmites, and other formations, including a 40-foot column, are highlights of this wet cave. There's a Native American burial ground, where the remains date from 680 BC. It also has a small gift shop on-site that sells rocks and fossils—you can even buy a bag of earth and pan for your own stones. Tours last 30 minutes.

Strangely eroded limestone banks give way to hollows that creep into hillsides; grassy prairie-like fields yield to woodlands; sinkholes interrupt the forested landscape. You have begun climbing into the Pennyroyal Plateau from the Sinkhole Plain, but the margin between the two is . . . complicated. The compromises made between rock and water, between grass and tree, between high and low, have resulted in a twisted patchwork landscape. It's covered over with a quilt of green, but as you look beneath, there's plenty to wonder at all the way to the visitor center. If you're entering the park from the south via Park City, be sure to observe the transitions in the geology along the roadside as you ascend. As you approach the top of the plateau, you'll see outcroppings of the Dripping Springs Escarpment. Once on top, you may spy what seem to be boggy places in the woods—spots where the sandstone and shale caprock is holding water in defiance of the sinkholes that draw all other water underground.

Raymer Hollow Trail winds over stream crossings through open forest flanking the Dry Prong of Buffalo Creek. At 1.5 miles from the Collie Ridge entry, Raymer Hollow backcountry campsite is accessed via a spur trail. Favored by horseback riders, hikers sometimes find Raymer Hollow Trail less suitable for those on foot. 6.2 miles. Moderate.

Descending past Historic Entrance, this trail follows the drainage toward Green River, hugging the forested hillside, where seasonal wildflowers bloom. Arriving in the river bottom, the trail curves left to a viewing platform above River Styx Spring, where the subterranean waterway emerges from its long, dark journey to join the Green River. 0.4 mile. Moderate.

Several stream crossings and boulder outcrops add interest to this winding trail. Turnhole Bend Trail intersects it at 3.8 miles. At 7.2 miles, Sal Hollow backcountry campsite is accessible via a short spur trail. At 8.3 miles a trail on the left leads to the Miles-Davis Cemetery. Another trail at that point leads to the Bluffs backcountry campsite 0.6 miles westward. The trail ends at a junction with Buffalo Creek Trail. Horses and hiking only. 8.6 miles. Moderate.

Most of the park's caves lie within its hundreds of feet of limestone strata, but atop that limestone sits a layer of sandstone and shale. Sandstone caves can be found in this ridgetop layer, which often lead to greater limestone caverns farther down. In hope of making such a discovery, explorer Floyd Collins entered Sand Cave in 1925 … but never left. His entrapment, and attempted rescue, made headlines across the nation and caused a near-carnival of activity outside the cave entrance. That entrance is visible close at hand from the overlook at the end of Sand Cave Trail. A series of outdoor exhibit panels along the trail explain the historic events. Note: Sand Cave is closed to public entry.

Winding down the forested ridge, this trail passes by places where water has left the ridgetop and shaped the landscape on its way down. The most striking of these is the enormous sinkhole at the middle that gives the trail its name. Footing can be tricky. 1 mile. Moderate.

A small picnic area with two tables is available at Sloan's Crossing Pond. Accessible.

Sloan's Crossing Pond is an anomaly—a standing body of water in a place where most water disappears under the earth. This accessible boardwalk encircles the pond, offering turnouts with outdoor exhibit panels explaining the aquatic life of a woodland pond. A small picnic area is available. 0.4 miles. Easy.

This trail connects Collie Ridge Trail with the livery at Double J Stables & Horseman's Campground. Horses and hiking only. 0.2 mi. Easy.

Located halfway along the ½-mile Heritage Trail, the overlook provides views of the Green River Valley and surrounding hills, with an outdoor exhibit panel about the history of the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park. Accessible.

A series of forested switchbacks along this trail descend from Sunset Point Overlook on the Heritage Trail to the river bottom just above River Styx Spring. The trail is narrow and the footing uneven, so use caution. Taking the trail upward can be moderately strenuous. 0.3 mile. Moderate.