less Pit, the which I m now sorry I did nt do. Upwards of an hour
thus spent, we ascended to the Bridge, and crossing it, entered Penseco
Avenue. Through Wild Hall, (with the gypsum-incrusted ceiling prece-
ding it;) Snow Ball Arch, some 10 feet wide, 8 high, with small
ball like incrustations dependant from its roof, to the Great Crossings. Here
two galleries intersect in right Angles, and the stone strata connecting the upper
galleries having fallen downwards, a Bengal light being fired all around
looks chastically, savagely grand. (I m wrong in stating they cross at right
angles in plan these galleries represent a figure 8.) On proceeding
we find a region of Stalagmites and Stalactites, (the former having fallen on
and uprisen from the floor, the latter still dependant.) Pine Apple
Bush, and the Devils Pulpit, the names of which explain their character
are here. Some of the stalag and stalactites are so crystalized as to be almost
pure alabaster, and lit up by the lamp glare held behind them, look beau-
tiful. Angelica s Groths (no wise resembling the retreat of Ariosto s lovers) end this
Avenue, which is about a mile in
length from the bridge over the Bottomless Pit. Again we re-
trace our steps, for Gothic Avenue, branching off from the Main Cave,
at about half a mile from the entrance, is yet to be visited. Up a
flight of steps into wide passageway, which pursued for a space brings
us into the Haunted Chambers, so called from an incident here occurring
during the Salt-petre making time. A young fellow getting lost, and here re-
maining for some time, got so horribly affrighted that on the appearance of his
negro comrades with torches for his rescue, he incontinently imagined that he
was already defunct and in hell, and fiends approaching to his torment.
In this place Indian mummies have been found, one with the highly orna-
mented garniture, skins, bark woven articles, snake skins, eagle s claws
and I wot now how much more Indian finery. On-speeding, we pass
stalatites, one if stricken sounding like to a bell s note, (broken heretofore
by a clamor-loving Pensylvanian;) and our footsteps re-echoing hollowly
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Six: page one hundred and forty-one |
| Description: | Describes a visit to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. |
| Date: | 1853-10-01 |
| Subject: | Bishop, Stephen; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Mammoth Cave (Ky.); Travel |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Kentucky] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Six |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn's writing and drawing work in New York, a visit to the Catskill Mountains, attending the wedding of his friend Charles Damoreau (Brown), a visit to the Crystal Palace in New York, his friend Lotty's difficult marriage to John Whytal, a sailing trip around Lake Superior, a visit to Mackinac Island in Michigan, a visit to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and a journey by horseback from Kentucky to Louisiana with friends. |
| Subject: | African Americans; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Marriage; Native Americans; Publishers and publishing; Slavery; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Michigan; Wisconsin; Ohio; Kentucky; Mississippi; Alabama; Louisiana |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
