Families With Ties to Mammoth Cave National Park Landscape Invited to Research Those Roots

Do your family roots run through Mammoth Cave National Park? NPS photo.

You might call the coming weekend an ancestral weekend at Mammoth Cave National Park, as the park will offer workshops for tracing family trees that have roots in the park's rolling and rumpled landscape.

Beginning Friday evening and running through Sunday the park will welcome those who want to do a little family research in the park. There is expected to be something for everyone interested in the history, preservation,and genealogy within Hart, Barren, and Edmonson counties. All workshops and hikes are free of charge.

The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday with a workshop on how to find Kentucky records through land transactions records and a session on finding ancestors through records of the Civil and Mexican wars.

At 9:00 a.m. Saturday a workshop will focus on conserving and preserving cemeteries and monuments. Activities in the afternoon include a 1:30 p.m. history trip to Doyle Valley, a 2:00 p.m. presentation on genealogy for beginners, and a 4:00 p.m. discussion and photo sharing on hotels, stores and other businesses that were on the land that became the national park. At 1:30 p.m. Sunday there will be a guided hike to Salts Cave with a history presentation.

The Rotunda Room in the Mammoth Cave Hotel will be open throughout the weekend and is the place for sharing family history and remembrances.

"Roots in the Cave" is being sponsored by the National Park Service and Mammoth Cave Hotel. If you need additional information about the event, call (270) 773-5099. Driving directions to the park and other information to help you plan a visit are available here.

Whether or not you're able to attend the event this weekend, you'll find additional information about the people, places and stories that make up the unique history of Mammoth Cave National Park on the "History and Culture" page on the park website.