Louisville Magazine

JUN 2017

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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forestspringshc.com 32 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 6.17 With a flashlight, she points to various formations that look like tobacco leaves, an aircraft carrier and a praying monk. "You guys hungry?" she asks, setting up a rehearsed punch line: "Here's some bacon." Her beam of light showcases a ribbon of mineral deposits that looks identical to a marbled, fatty slice. When we reach a place known as Discovery Falls, our guide cues a light show that tells of Marengo Cave's beginning. An image of a boy and a girl with candles pops up on a far wall, like shadow puppets. I strain to hear audio that battles with the plop plop of cave life. "Oh, Orris, this is amazing!" a young woman's recorded voice says. "Hey, what's over there? It looks like diamonds!" (Modern technology bares no responsibility for the light show. Did you ever make it to the wax museum in Cave City before it closed? Similar feel here. Retro? Yes. Memorable? Oh yes.) So the story goes that in September 1883, a 15-year-old named Blanche Hiestand and her 11-year-old brother, Orris, found a sinkhole, lit two candles and went exploring. Ta-da! Marengo Cave. Soon thereafter the property owners set up tours for 25 cents. Since then, the cave has been used to store vegetables in the mid-1900s, as well as to act as a potential shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has hosted square dances, weddings and overnight trips for Boy Scouts. In 1986, the U.S. Department of Interior proclaimed it a National Natural Landmark, citing it as "the most profusely decorated cave known in the interior lowlands." Warning: Marengo Cave is not for the claustrophobic. At barely five-foot- three, I had to duck occasionally and shimmy between rock formations that I desperately wanted to (but wasn't allowed to) touch to make sure no trickery was involved, perhaps papier-mâché and Fraggle Rock blueprints. Maybe that's when you know nature's magic is working. It's right there before your eyes, a scripted tour enforcing its truth, but it seems too spectacular. — AM

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