In Mammoth Cave, Misha learns how important it is to bring what has been buried above ground.
In Mammoth Cave, Misha learns how important it is to bring what has been buried above ground. She follows ranger Jerry Bransford through the tightest passages of the world’s largest cave system. She learns about his deep family connection to the cave, the troubling history of enslaved men who first explored it, and the fight to remember them.
Lift Your Light a Little Higher Text copyright © 2016 by Heather Henson. Used by permission of Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.
Mammoth Cave is Shawnee, Cherokee and Chikasaw land.
More about the podcast:
Hello, Nature host, Misha Euceph, didn’t know about the National Parks until she turned 21. But after an experience in Joshua Tree and watching 12 hours of a national park documentary, she sets out on a road trip to answer the question: if the parks are public, aren’t they supposed to be for everyone? In this podcast, she goes out to see America and tell a new story of our national parks.
Hello, Nature can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Learn more about the podcast and our season sponsor, Subaru.
ACT I
It's June 2021 and Jonathan and I are smack dab in the middle of Kentucky.
Guys, at this point, we’ve seen five National Parks. We’ve been on the road for more than 4 weeks.
Park number six: Mammoth Cave.
Cave not Caves. Cave.
Sorry. I’m tired.
This is one of the longest trips I’ve taken, like… ever.
I’ve been eating like shit.
I rarely get to take a proper shower.
My back is killing me from all the driving.
Even my feelings feel tired.
Misha: Sorry, I’m -- that was like probably the worst...
And I love it. I love that I get to feel tired in both my brain and my bones after being inside for a year and a half.
I’m the kind of tired that makes bad food taste good.
Misha: It’s like, what kind of system is this? Do they know who I am? Come on!
We are on the road to Mammoth Cave and it carves through the forest.
This forest is so lush. There is all this thick undergrowth. And the greens feel like someone turned up the color saturation.
Right before we get to the visitor center, we see a pack of wild turkeys -- six or seven of them -- just hanging out in the grass.
The air’s thick and humid.
Compared to the epic landscapes of Arches or Glacier, the actual park, Mammoth Cave doesn’t look like much.
Like It’s basically a parking lot in the middle of a dense forest.
That’s because in this park -- everything is underground.
Welcome to Hello Nature by REI-Co Op Studios, brought to you by Subaru. I’m your host, Misha Euceph. This episode, I’m in Mammoth Cave National Park.
Mammoth Cave is super new to the Parks system. It was acquired in 1941. Before that, it was privately owned.
And before that… It was Shawnee, Cherokee and Chikasaw land.
Misha: Thank you.
The visitor center is packed.
It’s not really the outdoorsy crowd I’ve come to expect from National Parks. In my leggings and hiking shoes, I feel out of place. And just when I got the hang of nature outfits!
Here, it’s more the roadside attraction bunch -- families, babies, tour groups.
Everyone’s here for the guided cave tours.
Gothic Avenue tour …. The Domes and Dripstones tour … The River Styx tour … The Frozen Niagara tour
So cave-y.
Misha: Hi, how are you doing?
Ranger: Did you get a tour today?
Misha: Um we’re wondering about the Frozen Niagara Tour --
Ranger: Sold out completely --
Misha: For the whole day?
Ranger: Until June 20th
Misha: Oh wow! Okay.
The ranger says, during the summer, almost all of the Cave tours sell out months in advance.
But don’t worry. We pre-booked our tickets for today. We are doing The Historic Tour.
At this point, here’s what I know about caves.
I know that Muhammad received his first revelation in a cave. I know from school about Plato’s allegory of the cave. Remember the fire and the chains and the shadows and stuff?
But those caves... I always just pictured as small holes in the side of a mountain.
This tour -- it’s 2 hours long. So it’s definitely gonna be more than just a hole.
But honestly, I have no idea what to expect. Are we gonna have to crawl? Wear hard hats?
Like how big is this place? Big enough to get lost? What if I get lost?
And how deep is this cave? Are there even lights? Should I have brought a light?!
While we’re waiting for the tour to start, we notice that there are tons of books and signs in the visitor center. Maybe there will be some answers.
Mammoth Cave apparently has a long history of famous guests.
Misha: Oh Ralph Waldo Emerson! Visits Mammoth Cave in....
It’s the longest cave system in the world.
Misha: The Mammoth Cave system is huge and complicated with no end in sight.
Over 400 miles long and counting -- to this day they’re still discovering deeper, more extensive passages.
But this next fact blows my mind. I’m not entirely sure how to process it.
Misha: One of the first published maps of Mammoth Cave was drawn by enslaved African American Stephen Bishop. Stephen was well known in the 1840s and 1850s as a guide and explorer who pushed known boundaries of the cave.
This cave system was explored and mapped by a Black man? During slavery?
Misha: He was the first to see the Snowball Dining Room, River Styx, Echo River and Cave Fish.
The routes and names of this cave’s most famous passages -- passages that extend 30 stories below my feet -- were the work of Stephen Bishop and a number of other enslaved guides. They pioneered the cave tour industry here.
Honestly, I can’t say I’m surprised.
Misha: Wait, let’s look in the shop and see if there’s anything there.
And as soon as we are in the store I see it-- a picture book. A portrait of a young man with a lantern in his hand.
It’s called “Lift Your Light A Little Higher: The Story of Stephen Bishop” by Heather Henson with illustrations by Bryan Collier.
I flip open the first page. The art is so cool! Like a mix of watercolor and collage.
It’s written in the voice of Stephen Bishop.
I flip to a page that shows a group of white people-- aristocrats, laughing and smiling, entering a cave. They’re led by a young black man.
It reads:
“The past is like a cave sometimes. Dim and dusty and full of twisting ways.”
Bryan: Ok hello. My name is Bryan Collier. I'm an author and illustrator of picture books.
“...Not an easy thing to journey down, especially when you're searching out a path that's hardly been lit.
Don't worry, though... Stick close to me, and you won't get lost....”
Bryan: This story came across my desk and it was offered to me. And, so I had some intriguing ideas about it. One, I'd never been in a cave before. I didn't know what that whole cave culture was about. And then I had a fear, I'm claustrophobic. There have been moments where I can't get on the elevator sometimes, you know, if it's too crowded, even on like a subway car, you know. So I said, “Okay, I’ve got to confront this claustrophobia.”
When I got there, there were busloads of tourists there. And there were babies coming out of the caves, man. It's like, Oh my god, you know, that challenged my ego, too. You know, I was like, wait a minute, the babies went down. And I have a problem?
Now this is the middle of the summer. But when you get to the mouth of the cave, it feels like an air conditioner blowing at you. Oh my god, I had no idea what I was going to experience.
I turn the page and see a collage of map pieces. There’s also a drawing of Stephen Bishop. It takes up the entire right page. He’s looking right at me and the page reads...
“The year is 1840, give or take. The color of my skin is black. The name I’m called is guide. Famous or not, you will not find my story written down exactly as it happened. Because in 1840, in most states of this young nation, it's against the law to teach me to read and write.
Why is it against the law to teach me my letters? Because I am a slave…”
Jerry: Mammoth Cave National Park visitors tours. This is the first call -- the first call for the 845 historic cave tour. This tour will depart in approximately five minutes.
Oh my god, I forgot where I was for a second. We rush outside to where everyone is meeting up for the Historic Cave Tour.
Brian’s illustrations made the cave seem really big. But of all the nature things we’ve done so far, this is the one that I’m not scared of.
I’m not claustrophobic.
I don’t have a fear of heights or depths.
I’m so ready.
Bryan: And after you get acclimated to the darkness and the coolness and you feel like you're in outer space, you feel like you lose track of time. You lose track-- your senses because now it's not 90 degrees upstairs in the middle of the day. You're down -- you’re -- it feels like you're at night and like the crystals in the ceiling look like stars twinkling so you’re really tripping out, you know.
All this atmospheric stuff is great as an artist that I can bring to the creating of-- recreating of the story. So I'm taking all the senses in and…
But then we get to Fat Man's Misery. Then the phobia creeps in. You know, and by that time you’re near, you’re close to the end of the tour really, but it just feels like oh my god. This is the worst part of this tour because it gets smaller and smaller and then the claustrophobia comes in and, and you think you hear some rocks shifting somewhere like, “Oh my god, we're going to get clocked down here, man, on the day that I came, you know?”
We’re outside. Sitting and waiting in this small amphitheater. What’s it gonna be like? Maybe I’m gonna have some revelations.
Our guide’s name is Jerry. And as soon as he speaks, we are charmed.
Jerry: Good morning.
Crowd: Good morning.
Jerry: Good morning.
Crowd: Good Morning!
Jerry: That’s a little better. Welcome to Mammoth Cave National Park. I'm Ranger Jerry. I'm gonna be your guide for the next two hours in time and two miles in distance. Are you sure you want to do this?
Crowd: Yes!
Jerry: You're not sure, sir? We're going down about 30 stories in the longest cave system in the known world. We're going through Tall Man's Agony and Fat Man's Misery after we cross the Bottomless Pit. I’m a Kentucky original, actually born and raised not too far from where we are now. So this area of Kentucky is my home. There's a stretch of land there where my daddy was born in 19 and 14. His daddy was born there in 18 and 76. Do you want to know the rest of the story? Well you gotta come and go with me, ok?
Jerry walks us down a path through the forest toward the mouth of the cave. I keep thinking about Stephen Bishop.
About this park’s history with slavery. Like what was it like? For an enslaved Black man to take white people on tours of these caves?
Bryan: As he led groups of white patrons down into this cave, they had to listen to him. They had no idea where they were going. They had no idea how to get out. Whereas if he was up on the mainland, he has no rights. Nobody listens to you, you have no worth up there. But down in the bottom of that cave, you are the one.
When we reach the mouth of the cave, the temperature takes a sudden dive.
Misha: Oh whoa it’s so cold. Wow!
Jerry: Ok please come in! Come on down and enjoy the cool air of the cave. It is said that the cave exchanges its own air every 24 hours. And the theme of today’s tour is walking in the footsteps of the earliest explorers and guides of Mammoth Cave. Are you all set? So we’re going to walk through an ancient river bed. We’re going to enter the cave on level 2 of 5. Let’s go do this, thank you.
Misha: Oh my gosh! Wow.
BRYAN: Well, when we were down at the bottom, my guide said, okay, now you lead us out. So I had the point of view of Stephen Bishop now, which is a whole different mindset. Now I'm leading everybody out, I got a lantern on my head. And I was so happy that my guide brought me through there and asked me to do that because then I got a real point of view of Stephen Bishop as he did his work.
Misha: It’s so dark.
The first room we enter is a huge cavern. The size of, like, a cathedral.
Jerry points out some pits in the middle with wooden poles. Remnants of an old gunpowder operation.
Jerry: Black men. About 70 of them were brought here. Against their will for the war of 1812.
Of this tour group, Jerry and I are the only people of color. Everyone else is white.
And Jerry does not intend to skim over the history of slavery.
Jerry: These pits and the dreadful pits you see ahead. Free whites didn’t have to work in the pits and they did not. So they brought 70 men here from around the region and they were leased by their owners to the owner of Mammoth Cave’s gunpowder operation.
Many of those men died in the caves. They were buried in unmarked graves in the forest outside.
Jerry: But before we leave here I find it necessary to pay a tribute to these Americans. They were Americans, given the privilege of being called Americans or not. Fighting for a young United States of America that saw them as less than regular. So when I come here, I turn the lights out and it’s as though I can hear the moan and the groan of these men who worked so tirelessly with no control of their life.
Let’s continue down broadway what do you think? Let’s go deeper.
We descend through more passages, and suddenly I start to see graffiti. Names written on the ceiling.
Misha: Oh my god.
Jerry: “JG Chadwick, August 1860,” pretty good isn’t it?
Jerry tells us that the enslaved guides wrote these signatures for their wealthy patrons.
Jerry: We’re gonna tell you how - We’re gonna tell you how that was done. With candlesmoke!
Misha: There’s so much writing. Oh my god.
And then Jerry shines his flashlight on a particular signature.
Jerry: There’s Stephen 1842.
Misha: Stephen Bishop?
Jerry: Mmhmm.
Among the hundreds of other names, I see the name Stephen in clear, block letters.
This was an act of rebellion.
Bryan: This story is important because when you talk about American history and slavery, they zip through it. Because most people don't know how to talk about it. They don't know that within the context of slavery, rebellion is nothing new. The -- the human spirit is universal that wants to be free, you can't bound the human spirit. It’s always going to find a way to get out of it. This is a testimony to just that. And to understand that this story is not just for Black kids, it's for all kids to understand who you are in this nation, and on this planet. And when the truth comes out, it's better for all of us. And this is not this sad, downtrodden story. This is a story of triumph. And it's a story of heroic proportions, you know?
So, we’ve been in the cave for 45 minutes.
Jerry stops at another name. It’s small. I wouldn’t have noticed it on my own. It says, “Mat.” Just “Mat.”
Jerry: Please come down. I’ve got interesting story to tell you.
Come on down, come on, come on, come on. We're going to show you some cave writing. How would you like leave your name on a cave wall? Well you can't. Please come, please come. We’ve got an interesting story to tell you about Matterson, a guide slave here.
Well, after the war of 1812, the cave was sitting dormant.
Some wealthy white men decided to buy the land and see if they could make some money by offering tours of the cave. Three enslaved people were chosen to be the first guides: Stephen Bishop and two brothers named Nick and Mat. They were all only teenagers.
Jerry: All these boys learned the tricks of the trade -- escorting kings and queens to the cave. General George Custer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was to write the “Illusions” in 1855.
So Mat, his name was Matterson. He bought up from Nashville in 1841. He sees a slave girl from Brownsville. He falls madly in love with her. Oh, by the way, her name was Parthena. Wasn't that a nice name?
They go up to their old church and the preacher say, “Parthena do you love this man named Mat?” She say, “Oh, I love him so much when I see him, I sure lose my appetite.” He says, “Mat, do you love this girl?” He says, “I love this girl so much, sir. When I go to bed, I can't even sleep at night.” “Do you swear to be true and till death do you part?” And they both said, “I do.” He says, “Join hands now. And jump the broomstick.” Have you heard of that? They jumped a broomstick. And then four children was born. In a Tennessee State Library we found a few years ago where Mat say, “We had them children out in the yard and they were the prettiest little children you ever did see, look like little grasshoppers out in the yard.”
But little did Mat and Parthena know that Old Captain saw fit to sell three of their four children. They were tied behind a rider and led away from Mammoth Cave. His wife Parthena say, “Master, why don't you take me and leave my child here with my husband?” You know what he said to her? “So you get back to that cabin, or I’ll whip you again.”
Oh, Mat say, “We don't know what we're going to do.” He says, “Slaves hurt just like free people.” He says, “I'm a man and I can bear such things though it’s mighty hard ‘cause, man don't supposed to cry. It’s is a sign of weakness, you know?” But he says, “Sometime I go down that river where people don't see me, and I cry my eyes out.”
He said, “But tell you what about my wife.” He said, “When they sold that last girl, she went into deep depression. Disparity. She seemed like she don't want to eat no more no sleep. She lost her mind.” He says, “Been seven years now. And everyday she looks down that dusty road, thinking, those children gonna come back. But I don't ever think they will.”
Do you want the rest of the story? You got to come and go with me.
So we go deeper into the cave, through some more passages - Dante’s Gateway to the Wooden Bowl Room, down the Steps of Time. We wind through Black Snake Avenue, past the Bottomless Pit.
Good names, right? We can thank Stephen Bishop for some of them.
The cave is so narrow by this point. Like, I didn’t even realize how much it was closing in, but there is basically a tiny slot in front of us.
Jerry: Okay, uh can you hear me? Okay, I want to cordially welcome you to Fat Man’s Misery and Tall Man’s Agony. Here we go.
Good thing I’m a short person. I can see how someone with claustrophobia would be freaking out right now. But I am having the time of my life.
Misha: Okay. I’m crouched over. It’s still pretty narrow. We’re like basically doubled over, like bent.
After Fat Man’s Misery and Tall Man’s Agony, we enter Great Relief Hall. Then, Jerry leads us through a massive cavern with water cascading down from hundreds of feet above.
Misha: Oh my god!
Jerry: Welcome to Mammoth Dome. It’s always water here. Water going right to the river.
We climb up to another hall, called the Ruins of Karnak. It has these natural stone obelisks. They literally look like they belong in some Egyptian temple.
By this time, Jerry and I are basically best friends…
Jerry: When you’re in the cave we can get 6 miles a day and 3,500 stairsteps here.
Misha: Yeah
Jerry: So I don’t really need to --
Misha: To do other exercise?
Jerry: Right. I work at keeping my weight in check.
Misha: Do you eat healthy too?
Jerry: ....Sometimes.
At the end of the tour, Jerry rounds us up. It’s time for the end of the story.
Jerry: What a great group of folks on the tour! You kept up well. You laughed at old, worn out jokes.
He tells us how Stephen, Nick, Mat and Parthena were freed after the Civil War. Stephen, unfortunately, died the year after emancipation. But the others stay on as guides.
Jerry: And Matt he says, “No, sir, I can never go back to Nashville now. I've been in the cave all my life. You see in my heart and in my blood. And plus, if I should go back to Nashville, Tennessee, and my children should come back after the war, they wouldn't know where to find me.” So that family stays on here, guiding tours in this cave 100 years before it became the 26th National Park. And we found out in more recent years that Matt was able to to get one of the girls back. She was 14 with a baby. But the other boy and girl, we have no idea of what became of them.
And I promise to tell you the rest of the story, didn’t I? Did you want to know the rest of the story? Well, Mat Bransford is my great-great grandfather.
And Ranger Jerry says, “Thank you for coming. And we should hope to see you back in the cave pretty soon. Thank you.”
Looks like the gate is locked. I'm gonna have to leave you down here.
I have so many more questions for Jerry. I wanna go up to him and talk to him. I notice that everyone else is in a hurry to leave the cave, except for this one man.
He’s tall, white, maybe in his 40s. He’s wearing black glasses. He walks up to Jerry and says something like, “Thank you. Thank you for what you are doing and for what your family did.”
I’m honestly kind of surprised that he’s the only one who says that -- who seems to have felt the gravity of the story Jerry just told.
I go up to Jerry and we make plans to meet up after, in the forest. He wants to show me and Jonathan something.
Wanna hear the rest of the story? You have to follow me.
ACT II
It’s still light out which is a little disorienting.
Jonathan and I go to our campsite for lunch. We’re staying near Green River.
It looks how I imagined the South to look. Shades of green-- chartreuse, lime, dark, dark green.
A literal green river right next to our tents. Bugs galore. Frogs croaking.
And suddenly, this little bat, shockingly cute, drops out of the trees and eats a bug right in front of my face.
This whole trip I’ve been kind of a baby about bugs.
I don’t hate all bugs, but mosquitos are a plague. They do nothing for us. I hate them and I don’t care who knows it.
And this park is full of ticks.
Like, on the national park website for Mammoth Cave, there is an entire section on how to stay safe from ticks.
So when this little bat swoops in like a hero and just starts eating bugs for me. I’m kind of in love.
I’m like, “Hey, I’m Misha. What’s your name? Wanna talk to me for my podcast?” I mean, who could say no? I’m famous.
Misha: So tell me your name.
Constantine: My name is Constantine
Misha: And Constantine, uh, what are you?
Constantine: I'm a big eared bat.
Misha: Um, what do you look like?
Constantine: I have very large, long ears. And when I go to sleep in the winter, I will fold them back to where it looks like a ram's horn. And it helps me preserve my heat during the winter months.
Misha: And what like your favorite thing to eat?
Constantine: I love moths. Things that fly slow. I like them.
Misha: Yeah?
Constantine: Yeah, they’re easy to catch. I eat literally 1000s of moths or 1000s of bugs and insects a night. And that lessens your dependency, hopefully on insecticides and pesticides. If you look in places like the state of Texas, it's almost a $3 billion savings.
Constantine is from Kentucky. I tell him about my fear of bugs. He says, “We all have fears, Misha.”
Constantine: I'm terrified of snakes. I don't like owls much. And I don't really like hawks very much, either.
Misha: Have you ever seen like anyone close to you get like eaten by any one of those things?
Constantine: Yes. I’ve seen owls snatch some of my friends out of the air as we come out of the cave.
Misha: That's so hard. Like, does that break your heart?
Constantine: Yes. I mean, maybe Phil’s not coming back to the roost tonight because of that. You know, we used to hang out a lot.
I ask him what he is most afraid of.
Constantine: Well, white nose syndrome has been really deadly. It's killed a lot of bats here at Mammoth Cave.
Misha: And what is the white nose...
Constantine: White nose syndrome is this this cold loving fungus that probably made it to the United States more than likely by accident.
Turns out that white nose syndrome is our fault. Humans. It’s ravaging the bat population all over the US. It grows on them while they hibernate and once it does… game over.
Millions of bats have died from this in the last decade.
I think about the cave tour. My hand touching the wall.
The chemicals I slathered all over me to keep bugs away.
My footsteps.
A moth flies by and before I know it, Constantine is gone.
Ever look around and think, “Man humans suck”?
I’m having that kind of day.
The way we treated the wolves in Yellowstone.
The way we’ve treated the land.
How much damage our lights do to the sky.
Mostly, the way we treat each other.
And Constantine is just a bat! What did he ever do to anyone? He’s one of the good guys!
Superheroes wish they were him!
I feel like Dracula really did bats dirty. Sure, there is the whole rabies thing but, come on. Google “baby bat” and tell me that isn’t adorable.
Cylita: And it just was like this cute, fuzzy little brown thing that fit in the palm of my hand with this like adorable little face. I just… and then it bit my glove and it was like less than, less than ideal. But you know holding it, it just, it really helped me see how fragile they are.
You know they do a lot of really valuable things for our ecosystems that I feel people just haven’t, haven’t learned about.
So I am Cylita Guy. I am an ecologist who studies bats.
Cylita does most of her research in cities. Toronto, to be exact.
She leads nature walks and science events. She’s also a storyteller and children's book author. All to show how our lives are improved by having animals like bats as neighbors.
Cylita: I caught in two years like over 300 bats of four species in one city park. It’s not even across the entire city. So there is just so much more nature in our cities I think than people appreciate. I want more people to see that kind of nature and you know engage with it.
Since our time in Arches I’ve been rethinking my relationship to nature.
I’m doing my best to follow the leave no trace principles.
I’m trying to give my kindness to the land, to appreciate where I am.
To learn about and honor the people who cared for this land for generations.
And I try to remember that I am not just out here for me.
I want people who relate to me to feel like they are welcome.
Cylita: So I am, I am a Black woman. It's incredibly important to me because I grew up and the kind of images of conservation biologists and environmentalists that I was provided with were, were white. And they were definitely all men.
I feel like when we talk about nature, it's just like, these are the issues that affect the wildlife, and we as scientists only care about the wildlife. But that's not true for a lot of a lot of us and I will say myself included. And I also care about who has access to that nature.
It is important to Cylita that she can be seen engaging with nature. Bats are nocturnal, so she usually does her research in the middle of the night.
Definitely not peak park visitor time. But one night, she is tagging bats in a city park and there are a bunch of drunk teenagers hanging out.
Cylita: Sure enough, one of the kids is like, “Hey! What are you guys doing over there?” And they like all descend on our picnic tables. And they ask these like really interesting questions like, like, like this equipment, like, what does it do, what is it for? And it was like going great and then the cops roll up. And they get on their like their bullhorn and they’re like, “You need to disperse. The park is closed.” And literally one kid, that as he’s running off was like, “This was so much fun. Thanks! See you later!” He went off into the forest. I’m like, “Okay, man.” (laughs)
So now Cylita is standing there with these cops shining their lights at her and they’re like, “YOU NEED TO LEAVE.”
And she is like, “NO. I’m working here. If you need to talk to us, get out of your car.”
Cylita: They get out of the car. They come up to the table. And they’re like “What are you doing?” And I explain.
She’s like - hey, we’re scientists. We study bats.
Cylita: “Look, like here's a bat. Like I’m like I’m legit. I’m not um making this up.”
So Cylita is standing there and the cops are standing there. And all of a sudden her shirt starts moving. And the cop says...
Cylita: “Lady, your shirt, it’s like squirming like what - what is going on.” And I’m like, “Oh yeah, I got a bunch of bats down there like no, no big deal.”
Bats get cold. So while she is working with them, a lot of times she puts some down her shirt to keep them warm. Normal for her. Not normal for this cop.
So the cop’s like… “Wow, this is weird.” And he just leaves! He leaves.
I hope those drunk kids saw the whole thing.
We scarf down our lunch. And I drink enough water to stop hallucinating conversations with bats.
By the time we’re done, it’s 2pm. So, time to pick Jerry up from the visitor center.
Misha: Flint Ridge!
Jerry: And yeah it’s Flint Ridge Road. There used to be a little community up here.
He gets in our car and we drive together. Past where the wild turkeys were lounging earlier. We turn onto an unpaved road. And the forest surrounding us is thick.
Jerry: We also have a bus tour that goes up there called Great Onyx Cave Tour.
ACT III
Jerry: I'm Jerry Bransford. I work here at Mammoth Cave National Park as a fifth-generation guide.
Misha: What does that mean? What’s a fifth-generation guide?
Jerry: A fifth-generation guide means that I'm the great, great grandson of one of the three original guides, Matterson Bransford, brought here from Nashville in 1838. And we as a family were guiding tours here 100 years before it became a national park in 1941.
Misha: Tell me a little bit about your childhood. Where did you grow up?
Jerry: I grew up a little bit east of here in Glasgow, Kentucky, which is at the edge of the park. I was in the first integrated class at the local school in 1964. I was one of 10 black kids to integrate the school system. We were called experimental kids of 1964. So this area is very familiar to me, coming to Mammoth Cave often because my dad was born here 1914, and his foreparents. So he always would bring us back home to Mammoth Cave.
The Bransfords lived in Mammoth Cave for generations. But Jerry’s dad was the last of the Bransords to call this area home.
Jerry: My dad would drive his old Chevrolet down to the mouth of the cave. Used to be a parking lot there. And of course, I didn't realize that the takeover takeover being that it became from a privately-owned family operation to a national park. So we would would sit down there from the cave, and some of the old guides would come out and my daddy knew some of them. But I didn't really know at that time that, I didn't know about the expulsion. They were called in in 1937. And told in a short time, they weren't going to be guides anymore, you know, because they were men of color. And actually, in some situations, my ancestors were required to train men from out of town, who knew nothing about the cave, to do their jobs. And they did it with great dignity. And when they left here in 1941, it was all over.
When Mammoth Cave became a National Park, the Government declared eminent domain on the area. The schoolhouse, the church, the successful lodge and hotel that the Bransfords had built from the ground up — all demolished. 100 years of history erased.
The Bransfords are no longer allowed to be guides.
But they are allowed to be day laborers. After firing them from their actual jobs, the government hires them back to do other things.
Jerry: I think about the last Bransfords that were here -- Clifton and his brother Elzy. You know, they were pick and shovel men before they left. How would it be to work in a cave all your life, you’re expelled from doing what you know best, and as a last resort, you become part of the Civilian Conservation Corps? That breaks my heart.
I wonder how would it feel to be a member of a work team working on a trail that you walked for years, and having somebody tell you to shovel that dirt, move those rocks, things like that? How would it be to train another person to do your job, and you didn't want to give your job up? Those are the dark things I think about.
So, it’s 2004. Jerry has just retired from a successful career in finance.
And he gets a call-- this woman named Joy Lyons reaches out to him. She’s been researching the history of the Bransford family, and she wants to talk to Jerry.
They talk for a while. Become friends. She’s really moved by his family’s history.
When a ranger position opens up, she tells Jerry. He doesn’t need the work. But he feels compelled.
Jerry: Before my Aunt Felicia died, she was the last of 12 kids born here and she was in her 90s when I became a tour guide, and was reintroduced, and she was so proud of that. So I would go see her in uniform. And she was happy that a Bransford’s back over there at Mammoth Cave. And I made a promise to those Brandsfords who were still living of that generation -- and she was only one -- that I would tell the story. I'm going to tell America what happened here. I want to tell you that we had ancestors that lost their children. I want to tell you that my great uncle had a hotel and a lodge here. And he didn't really get what he should have gotten for it. But mainly I want you to know the story that spans over 100 years. And that's what I've tried to do here.
Jerry: This used to be a bustling community up here. And Mat’s hotel was right down the the bottom of the hill. And it was the school house and church--
Misha: Bottom of this hill?
Jerry: Yeah, used to be down there on the left…
Jerry takes us out to the area where the Bransfords lived before the Park Service took over the land.
The only thing left is an old cemetery where many of Jerry’s ancestors are buried.
Jerry: We have a cemetery across the ridge and myself and coworkers and volunteers have happened to clean the cemetery. So I had an idea four years ago, that I want a memorial plaque placed in it. And I had all the names. I want all the names of the Bransford guides placed on it. I'll show it to you. It's stately.
So this memorial plaque -- it’s Jerry’s idea. It’s not actually installed or anything. But, Jerry’s already raised the money for it.
He’s got it designed and everything. He’s worked on this plan for four years. But the National Parks Service has a long bureaucratic process. And this plaque still hasn’t been approved by the Department of Interior.
So every year, he organizes crews to come out and clear the weeds in and around the cemetery.
Jerry: We did a lot of work up here last winter. But you can see how it’s kind of grown back a little bit.
And by a bit he means like a lot. There’s poison ivy, all kinds of weird plants. They literally look carnivorous. And it’s raining ticks.
Jerry: Here’s where you go in. Watch for poison ivy. You’ll see some red markers around some of the headstones. You’ll see Henry Bransford, Guide, down there.
Jerry instructs us to tuck our pants in our socks. And then he pulls out some heavy duty bug spray.
Jerry: Now turn around please. This is no joke here, people. Ok, just follow this trail. If you can’t, just yell back.
Misha: Ok, thank you!
Jonathan and I are pulling ticks off of us the entire way.
Misha: Agh. Something definitely dropped on me.
For a minute we think, “This can’t be the right way. We must be lost. How could the cemetery be this hard to find? So far off the road. No trail. No signs.”
Misha: Ah! Get away, get away, get away. Oh yeah, there’s gravestones! Oh my gosh. Henry Bransford! Holy shit. Oh my god. Wow. Alice Bransford. Henry Bransford. They’re really nice gravestones. Wow, I’m glad we were lucky enough to come see this.
Misha: What’s gonna happen when you’re gone?
Jerry: Oh that makes me sad. I don't know. I don't know. I wonder. Because there was 68 years, there wasn't one of us here. I've been here a mere 17 years. So I don't know of anybody that’s gonna be behind me. So I'm trying to put as much out there as I can. And that memorial would mean so much -- even after I'm gone if the memorial’s placed there, if there’s an interpretive walk, like it’s been talked about here, wouldn't it be great if folks could say why don't know these Bransfords, but they must have done something here. Because here are all their names.
I'd like to say that once I'm gone from here -- at 74 years of age, I wouldn’t expect to be here on and on -- I'm glad to have walked in the footsteps of my ancestors. I've given my time here in Mammoth Cave all that I could give. Maybe you could sense that in my presentation. I have, because I hope people would know that if they hear the story. Hope they know that Jerry was here for a brief time. But while he was here, he gave it everything he had to let you know what happened.
The past is like a cave sometimes. Dim and dusty and full of twisting ways.
At least that’s what the book about Stephen Bishop said.
I guess that’s the kids book version.
As we head out to Tennessee, to the Smokies, I start to think up a new version.
The past is like a cave sometimes, because -- sad as it sounds -- there are some people who would prefer it that way.
There are people who would prefer to keep it dim, dusty and out of sight. Some people who would make it weedy, brambly, full of biting insects, so that no matter how hard you try, you cannot see who is down there.
But those aren’t the people who know the caves.
Who know about the glittery stalactites and the underground waterfalls and the beautiful domed ceilings.
Who know every twist and turn in the cool, stoney passageways.
Who carry the lantern of the past through the opaque underground and into the light.
So that everyone can know them.
See them.
Remember them.