The document discusses the discovery and early exploration of the New Discovery section of Mammoth Cave in 1939. It describes how the Civilian Conservation Corps began work to develop the area for tourists in the 1940s, but had to leave their tools and supplies behind when they were called away in 1942. The project was never completed. Since then, very few visitors have entered New Discovery. The document outlines a current citizen science project by Northern Kentucky University students to inventory the cultural artifacts left behind by the CCC, in order to better understand and preserve the history of human activity in New Discovery.

1. Citizen Scholars Underground: Documenting the New Deal in New Discovery
David H. Kime, Honors Program, Northern Kentucky University
Paradise Discovered
Managers of Mammoth Cave faced two challenges during the
conversion to a National Park: a lack of significant press coverage
and competition from nearby caves with the ability to easily show
visitors dramatic and beautiful crystal formations. In 1939,
encouraged by management to explore, four cave guides
traversed two underground rivers, explored never before seen
passageways, and suddenly found themselves in one of the
largest and most beautifully decorated cave passages they had
ever seen. The explorers even named one room “Big Paradise.”
Managers quickly viewed this “New Discovery” as the solution to
their public relations challenges.
Citizen Science: Caring About and Caring For A National Park
The National Park Service (NPS) was established with two, sometimes competing, goals: providing access to and recreation in the parks while conserving natural
and cultural resources within parklands. These two goals are largely represented by distinct divisions of the NPS: Interpretation, tasked with facilitating a personal
connection between visitors and park resources, and Science and Resource Management, which applies modern research to the conservation of the same
resources.
Citizen science projects, like NKUʼs New Discovery project, achieve both goals and provide a visitor link between the two divisions of NPS. Student participants
of this project are providing crucial information that will help in future conservation decisions regarding the artifacts within this area of Mammoth Cave.
Additionally, by taking an active role in this project, participants form a very strong personal connection to Mammoth Cave in general and the New Discovery area
specifically. They identify strongly with their assigned section of the cave and the artifacts that they document. There is no doubt that such a strong personal
connection achieves the ultimate goal of interpretation: project participants care about Mammoth Cave and in the future will work to care for the park.
The Axe and the Sledge: The CCC in New Discovery
Over the objections of National Park Service (NPS) geologists,
work began to open up the New Discovery section of Mammoth
Cave. Engineers and laborers from at least two different Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) companies began building an artificial
entrance, paving trails, and excavating a filled passage between
Fossil Avenue in New Discovery and Fairy Grotto in Main Cave in
preparation for tourists. Work continued as the National Park was
established in 1941.
Paradise Lost
In the spring of 1942, CCC crews in New Discovery were called to
the surface to work on weather-dependent projects. Intending to
return to the New Discovery project, the CCC crews left much of
their tools, materials, and supplies in the cave. The CCC was
disbanded later that summer. The project in New Discovery was
never completed, and the artifacts left in the passages remain in
place today. The dig fell five meters short of connecting the tourist
routes and trail construction never made it to Big Paradise. Since
1942, very few people have been allowed in New Discovery, and
its story is not well known.
A New Day for New Discovery
It is unlikely that tourists will ever be able to physically visit the
New Discovery section of Mammoth Cave. However, the work of
the New Discovery inventory project will help tell its story. With a
completed inventory, resource managers will take appropriate
conservation actions to preserve the history. Park interpretive staff
will produce written material, museum exhibits, and even perhaps
virtual interpretations. Soon a new generation of park visitors will
be able to connect with the intrepid cave explorers who
discovered Big Paradise, the young men of the CCC who worked
so hard to develop a tourist route in this section of the cave. And
they might learn of the NKU students and faculty who used citizen
science to bring a new day to New Discovery.
A Successful Collaboration
Since 2007, Northern Kentucky Universityʼs (NKU) Honors Program and the Mammoth Cave International Center for
Science and Learning (MCICSL) have worked together to provide NKU students with a unique, interdisciplinary
experiential learning opportunity within Mammoth Cave National Park in south central Kentucky. Over the years, this
collaboration has tested new pedagogies and practiced new field trips. During this time NKU Honors students with faculty
member David Kime began actively researching the Civilian Conservation Corps history of Mammoth Cave (1933-42),
becoming the first and only educational group ever allowed in the New Discovery section of the cave. In response to
growing interest and new strategic initiatives of both institutions, in March 2014 NKU Honors and MCICSL began a new
transdisciplinary collaboration: The New Discovery Cultural Resource Inventory and Condition Assessment Project.
Guide Map showing relation of New
Discovery to historic cave tour routes.
Detail map showing Fossil Avenue, the
projectʼs current work area.
A 400 Mile Museum
Mammoth Caveʼs museum collection includes cultural artifacts
from throughout the caveʼs 400-mile length that represent 4000
years of human history. This project is locating, documenting, and
assessing all visible cultural artifacts found in the New Discovery
section of the cave. We are using the NPS Museum Artifact
Assessment Rubric to better integrate the in situ artifacts with the
rest of the parkʼs collection. No artifacts were collected as part of
this project. An example completed data sheet is pictured below.
Photographs and maps courtesy of: Mammoth Cave National Park Archives, Timothy Sofranko (NKU Photographer), and the Cave Research Foundation.
What the CCC Left Behind
Fourteen undergraduates, four graduate students and one faculty
member from NKU plus one MCICSL staff member have
participated in this survey to date. The survey has included all
visible artifacts past Fairy Grotto and approximately 265 feet of the
wet excavation zone at the end of Fossil Avenue. A total of 161
artifacts, artifact assemblages, or features have been documented
thus far. Artifacts include wiring, electrical junctions, light bulbs,
air compressor tank and pipes, lantern stands, wooden planks,
and small personal items. Of these, 26% are complete, 17% are
incomplete, and 57% are fragments. A vast majority (78%) of the
artifacts were rated fair or poor. Several artifacts are in imminent
danger and conservation efforts should must be made soon. Many
hundreds of feet of Fossil Avenue and Big Avenue remain to be
documented in future field trips.