Great Saltpetre Cave facts for kids
The Great Saltpetre Cave is a famous limestone cave located in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. It was very important during the War of 1812. People mined a special mineral called saltpeter here. Saltpeter was a key ingredient for making gunpowder.
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Discovering the Cave
Robert Baker found the Great Saltpetre Cave in the late 1700s. A stream flowed through the cave, and it was wide enough for oxcarts. These carts helped bring the mined saltpeter out of the cave. Workers used torchlights to see inside while they dug for the saltpeter.
What is Saltpeter?
Inside the cave, a substance called calcium nitrate, also known as niter, was taken from the dry soil. In 1806, Doctor Samuel Brown, a professor from Transylvania University, gave the first scientific description of how saltpeter was made in Kentucky. He learned a lot from the Great Saltpetre Cave. Like most saltpeter caves, the land above it is a hardwood forest-covered plateau. The saltpeter was usually sent to Lexington, Kentucky to be turned into gunpowder.
The Cave During Wars
During the War of 1812, about 60 to 70 men worked in the cave. They mined saltpeter because British ships were blocking supplies from overseas. Many of the workers were enslaved people. The cave was also mined a little during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. During the Civil War, Union soldiers even lived in the cave. The cave stays about 58 °F (14 °C) all year, which was a nice break from cold winters and hot summers.
A Commercial Attraction
For a while, until the 1970s, the Great Saltpetre Cave was open to the public. You could take tours, and people even held ballroom dances, museum visits, and weddings there! But visitors sometimes damaged the cave formations by taking pieces as souvenirs. Some people also wrote their names on the cave walls. One famous name left behind was Daniel Boone.
The Cave Today
Today, the Rockcastle Karst Conservancy owns the cave. It's part of the 300-acre (1.2 km2) Great Saltpetre Preserve, located off Kentucky State Route 1004. If you belong to certain groups, you might be able to camp overnight in the preserve. You can still see tools and other items from the cave's mining days.
The Cave on Film
The 1997 Steven Seagal movie Fire Down Below was partly filmed at the Great Saltpetre Cave.
